CHICAGO (WLS) -- Homes and streets are flooded in parts of the Chicago area on Tuesday evening after storms brought heavy downpours to the city and suburbs.
Heavy rain moved into the Chicago metro area between 2 and 4 p.m., and storms continued to develop over the same areas until 8 p.m. Wind gusts reached up to 45 mph in parts of the area, at times, ABC7 Chicago AccuWeather Meteorologist Cheryl Scott said.
A downed tree nearly missed an Edgewater couple's apartment.
Jason Ivanitz said his wife heard what sounded like a lightning strike. She then looked outside of her window and watched as a massive tree came crashing down.
"Wrong place, wrong time, it could've been bad," Ivanitz said. "She heard, like, a 'boom.'"
That tree landed in the middle of Thorndale Avenue near Ravenswood.
"A lightning strike hit the far tree, and basically, it knocked into the other tree and smashed it right into our place," Ivanitz said. "She actually saw the tree start to come towards her window. So, basically, she yelled to our dog and said, 'Dragon, run!'"
Ivanitz said he is grateful that the roof and window held when the tree fell down.
Meanwhile, the area of Jarvis and Ashland avenues in Rogers Park was left covered in floodwater.
Video shows streets morphed into makeshift streams near Claremont and Arthur avenues.
Another video captured cars driving through flooding on Monticello and Berteau avenues in Irving Park.
Some streets are under 4 to 6 inches of water, especially in areas with poor drainage systems, Scott said.
ABC7 also saw that dangerous driving pattern under a flooded Interstate 90 overpass near Anthony and St. Lawrence avenues on the city's South Side.
It was a similar sight outside city limits, in Homewood. There, caution cones, meant to block traffic, were left wading in deep water in front of a flooded and closed overpass near 178th and Dixie Highway.
And in Elmwood Park, near-disastrous flash flooding came and went within 30 minutes.
Now, it is cleanup time for residents like Nick Wallace as they deal with the floodwater that poured into some of their homes.
"I saw some really upset people, today. People crying, people really devastated with the amount of water that they had in their houses," Wallace said.
While there was at least one water rescue in Homewood, according to its fire chief, thankfully, across the area, there are no reports of any injuries.
Dry weather is expected the next few days.
A new national flood sensor network launched Monday in Chicago.
The network will deliver real-time flood monitoring to city leaders, emergency responders and residents.