Record-breaking rainfall could bring flash flooding to Chicago area

Many Chicago area residents reported flooding in their homes after record-breaking rainfall on Tuesday.

O'Hare Airport set a daily record for rainfall Tuesday at 2.43 inches, shattering the previous record set in 1949 when 1.21 inches of rain fell, according the National Weather Service. Tuesday was the rainiest April day at O'Hare since it saw 3.54 inches in 2013.

The Norwood Park area on the city's Northwest Side accounted for 114 of the more than 600 flooding complaints logged by the city's 311 service request hotline from midnight Tuesday to late Wednesday morning.

Benjamin Vance, owner of Rescue Plumbing, said his team has been helping clean up 15 homes, with 14 homes still on its waiting list.

“We're totally booked out,” Vance said. “We can't take any more calls.”

A flood watch that includes areas around the Des Plaines River in Riverside and River Forest is in effect until Friday evening.

Meteorologist Mike Bardou said the metro area, all of Northern Illinois and Northwest Indiana are also under a flood watch, and the possibility of tornadoes is minimal.

“We're concerned about maybe some potentially damaging winds, or kind of marginally severe, like quarter type-size hail,” he said. “The threat is not nearly as great as it was yesterday.”

“Know your area,” Bardou said. “If you're prone to high water or flooding, or your basement tends to flood if it rains very heavily, be mindful. We're in a stretch where that could very easily happen.”

Flooding is getting worse in Chicago, according to a Sun-Times/WBEZ investigation. Stronger, climate change-fueled thunderstorms are overwhelming the city's sewers, and rain is falling harder and faster, backing up systems designed to allow water to flow.