Flights canceled, power out, schools closed after storm slams Chicago region

By Gabrielle A. Wright, Associated Press
2018 winter storm
Heavy traffic on an expressway near O'Hare International Airport in Chicago on Sunday, when hundreds of flights were canceled due to a powerful storm. Nam Y. Huh / The Associated Press
2018 winter storm
Heavy traffic on an expressway near O'Hare International Airport in Chicago on Sunday, when hundreds of flights were canceled due to a powerful storm. Nam Y. Huh / The Associated Press

Flights canceled, power out, schools closed after storm slams Chicago region

By Gabrielle A. Wright, Associated Press
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Updated at 10:41 A.M.

The Chicago region was slammed with a major blizzard that dropped over a foot of snow in some spots — big enough to close hundreds of schools and prompt the cancellation of hundreds of flights as well as knock out power to 340,000 homes and businesses.

The storm hit Sunday night and continued overnight, delaying travelers trying to get back from the long Thanksgiving weekend, then making a mess of the Morning morning commute. The storm set records in some spots, including Rockford where the 11.7 inches of snow that fell overnight shattered the previous one-day record.

Chicago Public Schools were open but many suburban school districts cancelled classes Monday. Various government offices and courts shut down for the day.

More than 800 ComEd crews worked through the night to restore power to hundreds of thousands of customers in the city and suburbs. As of Monday morning more than 170,000 outages still were reported. 

At Midway Airport and O’Hare International Airport, nearly 1,000 flights were canceled during the past 24 hours. The bulk of the cancellations were at O’Hare, which was reporting flight delays late Monday morning.

CPS and the City of Chicago are closely monitoring the weather to ensure classes can safely resume tomorrow. Based on the current forecast, school will be in session as scheduled.

— ChicagoPublicSchools (@ChiPubSchools) November 26, 2018

Strong winds and snow created blizzard conditions across much of Nebraska and parts of Kansas, Iowa and Missouri. The National Weather Service was warning those conditions would make travel difficult in places.

Were you shoveling out your car and parking spot this morning? Or are you taking a #SnowDay?

How is the snow affecting your morning? Tweet us, or give us a call at 312-923-9239. pic.twitter.com/Rd9fuydbel

— Morning Shift (@WBEZmorning) November 26, 2018

The storm affected the central plains and Great Lakes region from Nebraska to Michigan.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.