CHICAGO—Hundreds of people in a southern Illinois town were ordered to evacuate July 16 as water rolled over the top of a dam, just one perilous result of severe weather that raged through the Midwest with relentless rain and tornadoes and hit the Chicago area especially hard.
Hundreds of thousands of people lost power, and even weather forecasters had to briefly scramble for safety.
According to several news reports, 19 tornadoes touched down in the Chicago area the night of July 15. “The National Weather Service has so far confirmed 19 tornadoes struck northeast Illinois and northwest Indiana on July 15, a tally that could rise significantly as survey crews are still in the field investigating damage at numerous additional sites across the region,” reported WTTW, a Chicago PBS affiliate.
Water overtopped a dam near Nashville, Illinois, and first responders fanned out to ensure everyone escaped safely. There were no reports of injuries in the community of 3,000, southeast of St. Louis, but a woman was rescued after reporting that she was in water up to her waist in her home, said Alex Haglund, a spokesperson for the Washington County Emergency Management Agency.
About 300 people were in the evacuation zone near the city reservoir, officials said. The rest of Nashville was not in imminent danger from the dam failure, but flash flooding on roads created worries about water rescues.
The National Weather Service said 5 to 7 inches of rain fell over an eight-hour period. Additional heavy rain was in the forecast. A long stretch on Interstate 64 in the Nashville area was closed.
The 89-year-old dam was last inspected in 2021 and categorized as a “high hazard” dam, which means a failure is likely to result in the loss of at least one life, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The condition of the dam was not available in the online data.
The storms also cut power to thousands in Ohio and Pennsylvania and caused damage to property, trees and power lines. No injuries were reported.
Compiled by Associated Press reports. Final Call Staff contributed to this report.
