A potent storm traversing the eastern half of the country has produced flooding rain, deadly tornadoes and travel-halting ice and snow and its impacts are far from over.Chicago wasn't immune from the storm's impacts as winds increased Friday night into early Saturday, gusting as high as 50 mph.On Saturday morning, the storm caused flight delays as long as four and a half hours at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, according to FlightAware.Delays escalated later in the day to more than six hours long, with over 1,000 cancellations from O'Hare alone.> HAPPENING NOW: More than 950 flights cancelled at O'Hare International Airport. Right now there is a ground stop at O'Hare for inbound flights due to ice. weatherwatch winterstorm chicagoweather @cbschicago pic.twitter.com/B5cGE4oFp8> > -- Vi Nguyen (@ViNguyen) January 11, 2020Such delays had a ripple effect across the country, including in cities that managed to escape effects from the storm. However, gusty winds are likely to spread across states from
New York to
Florida through Saturday night, which may add to the delays and cancellations.In addition to impeding air travel, the severe winds affected motorists along the lakeshore as well.Winds blowing southwestward across the southern part of Lake Michigan funneled the water over the beaches and through towns along the shore.
Northeasterly winds off of Lake Michigan triggered flooding in the
Chicago area on Saturday, leaving one
golf course underwater (Photo/@EricAllixRogers) Locations such as Rogers Park and Evanston were reportedly underwater as intense waves moved onshore.Radio station WBBM reported that parts of Lake Shore Drive and South Shore Drive were closed due to high water and flooding.> Serious and damaging surf in Rogers Park from lakemichigan this morning. Storm surge is insane. Flooding in Evanston as well. weather Chicago pic.twitter.com/KLE7a0AvDr> > -- Bo Rodda (@b0rodda) January 11, 2020Much of the Lake Michigan shoreline was underwater Saturday.The wind even produced large waves, as high 20 feet, which continued pound the southwestern shoreline of Lake Michigan through the afternoon on Saturday.> Birchwood Ave at Lake Michigan. The rocks on the left used to rise above Jarvis Beach. The beaches are all gone now. pic.twitter.com/rk06Tztmq0> > -- Bogochicaguense (@litwicki) January 11, 2020The Chicago Transit Authority reported several delays and reroutes of bus services as well as branches of the Blue, Red, Yellow and Green lines on Saturday morning, citing debris on the tracks.CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APPAs the storm pulls away into Sunday, winds are expected to lessen, and waters are likely to recede.In addition to the winds, periods of heavy rain spread across Illinois Friday night and Saturday. Cities such as Carbondale, Effingham and Cami all reported more than 3.5 inches of rain by midday on Saturday.Locations away from the lake saw accumulating ice and snow, including Rockford, Illinois which reported two periods of steady freezing drizzle during the storm.The Department of Streets and Sanitation said they had over 200 snow vehicles out to respond to the winter weather reported across Chicago.Other than a brief period of snow possible Sunday night, dry weather is expected for Chicagoland through early in the week for those cleaning up after the storm.Flooding was also reported around lower Michigan on Saturday along the Interstate 94 corridor, including around Kalamazoo.Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.