Clean-Up Underway After Wild Storms Damage Illinois, Indiana

Evacuate Wrigley Field and O’Hare Airport because of a summer storm? Unbelievable. Tornado sirens screeching within Chicago city limits–unheard of. Ninety thousand lightening strikes reported by the Chicago Tribune during the peak of this storm? Unprecedented.

Chicago and surrounding suburbs, as well as northern Indiana, is still reeling from wild storms that barreled through the area on Monday, Aug. 4. In addition to high winds and heavy rain, thunder and lightening, 3 tornadoes touched down and did extensive damage in Griffith, Ind., EF 2; Bloomingdale, Ill., EF2 ;and in Bolingbrook, Ill.,with an EF 1 rating.

Insurance claims numbers are just starting to trickle in. State Farm reported that at this writing 2,225 claims have been filed in the city of Chicago and in the south, west and northern suburbs.

In northern and central Indiana, also hard hit, 1,417 homeowner and business claims have been filed to date.

“We are expecting well over 3,000 claims in Indiana alone,” said Missy Lundberg, spokesperson for State Farm. Lundberg said that State Farm insures one in four homes in Indiana and one in three homes in Illinois.

Additional claims numbers from other insurers are not expected until later this week.