Strong storms swept through the Chicago area Saturday evening, bringing torrential rain, hail, and damaging winds, causing significant damage in several suburbs.

Northwest Indiana was hit by severe storms, inundating areas with up to 8 inches of rain, affecting residents and refineries and causing widespread basement flooding. Local governments have pledged to help.

After storms late Monday and early Tuesday dumped up to 7 inches of rain on Northwest Indiana, communities were still experiencing scattered flooding, school delays, and power outages.

The National Weather Service has issued a flood watch in effect until 4 a.m. Tuesday. Residents are urged to reduce water use to ease pressure on the sewer system. City Council members on the Southwest Side call on the mayor to speed flood response.

Damaging storms brought heavy rain that flooded roadways overnight, especially on the city's Southwest Side that saw flooding last month. Thousands of ComEd customers were without power for hours in the Chicago area.

The roof of a suburban apartment building was torn to pieces by severe thunderstorms storms that swept through the Chicago area Saturday afternoon.

Storms slammed a number of Chicago suburbs Monday evening, dumping several inches of rain and causing flooding throughout the region. Across the area, a number of roads, streets and underpasses were closed,