Tornadoes compound Midwest flood misery

The mammoth storm system blamed for killing at least 26 people in the Midwest was bringing a new wave of misery as fierce winds and tornadoes hampered efforts to recover from record floods and shut down air traffic at two of the nation’s busiest airports.

At least three tornadoes were reported Thursday afternoon in the Chicago area, according to NBC affiliate WMAQ. Harsh winds blew the roof off a warehouse in suburban West Chicago, collapsing the structure and injuring at least 40 people, none of them seriously.

Jill Dillingham, who lives on the North Side of Chicago, described the storm as a “hellacious, black wall.”

The conditions led authorities to shut down all arrivals and departures at O’Hare and Midway airports. The Chicago Department of Aviation said operations were suspended for only a brief time, but they warned travelers to expect serious delays and numerous cancellations at the airports, significant hubs where many travelers on their way to Labor Day weekend holidays would be expected to change planes.

Will County and southern Cook remained under tornado warnings late Thursday afternoon.

More Iowa flooding forecast
The tornadoes were spinoffs of storm systems that clobbered the Midwest this week, flooding thousands of residents out of their homes. The death toll across the Upper Midwest and from the remnants of Tropical Storm Erin that swept Texas, Oklahoma and Missouri over the past week rose to at least 26.

Another storm system was moving over Iowa and southern Minnesota, and much of Ohio was under a heat advisory, with temperatures in the upper 90s. Cincinnati schools closed because of the heat for the first time in at least 10 years.

Residents of southern Iowa towns were bracing for more flooding as up to 4 inches of new rain was expected to send the Blanchard River even higher, NBC WeatherPlus meteorologist Jackie Meretzky reported.

Work crews raced to pack sagging levees with sandbags and rocks along the river, a tributary of the Mississippi River that rose 18 feet in two days this week, cresting nearly 7 inches above its record level, recorded in 1913.

Chertoff, Paulison review Ohio damage
NBC WeatherPlus meteorologist Jeff Ranieri reported from Findlay, Ohio, the worst-hit town this week, that streets were just starting to dry out when the new forecast was announced.

NBC News video Bracing for more nasty weather Aug. 24: More wild weather is expected in areas that have already been hit hard. TODAY's Al Roker reports. Today show

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and David Paulison, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, toured Findlay to assess the damage from the worst flooding in at least a century.

“Hang in there. At least you’re safe,” Chertoff told a man who was waiting in line to apply for state aid.

Later, Chertoff and Paulison visited flood-stricken areas of southeastern Iowa, where Chertoff announced that President Bush had signed disaster declarations for three counties.

The Des Moines River, meanwhile, was not expected to reach its highest point for another 24 to 48 hours, Ranieri said, cresting about 12 feet above flood stage.

In the town of Lehigh, Dena Johnson watched the water inch closer and closer to her back door.

“I’m nervous. I’m nervous,” she told NBC News’ Lee Cowan. “I’ve had butterflies all day.”

But it is upriver in Fort Dodge where forecasters fear the worst damage may be.

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