Lollapalooza Resumes As Thunderstorms Move Through Chicago Area
(CBS) -- Severe thunderstorms moved though the Chicago area Sunday afternoon, downing trees and causing a brief evacuation of the Lollapalooza music festival in Grant Park.
The festival evacuated after 2 p.m. and re-opened 3:30 p.m., with music resuming at 4 p.m.
"Our first priority is always the safety of our fans, staff and artists," said Sandee Fenton, director of publicity for C3 Presents, the promoter behind Lollapalooza. "We regret having to suspend any show, but safety always comes first."
Podcast
The area was under a Severe Thunderstorm Warning until 3:15 p.m. as storms creating half-inch hail and wind gust of over 40 miles-per-hour moved through.
The #Lolla gates will officially reopen at 3:30. The music will resume at 4p. We'll be updating the schedule shortly. Stay tuned.
— Lollapalooza (@lollapalooza) August 2, 2015
The fast moving storm downed trees in Rogers Park and other parts of the North Side. A man was hit by a tree at Touhy and Kedzie shortly before 3 p.m., according to the Chicago Fire Department. He was taken to St. Francis Hospital in Evanston in unknown condition.
Late Sunday afternoon, ComEd reported a total of 38,000 customers without power as a result of the storms.
In Rosemont, the Dome at the Ballpark, which houses ball fields and batting cages, collapsed as a result of the thunderstorms.
The dome is located next to Rosemont Field where a Chicago Bandits softball team plays. PA announcer Doug Meffley says a game was ready to get underway when the stadium was cleared because of the coming storm.
"Winds were gusting so bad the bullpen fence actually blew into the field of play, we couldn't really see the field," he said. "Once it was through it was over and we looked across the parking lot and the dome had completely collapsed, the bubble had ripped apart and inside it was very mangled. There was debris in the parking lot and it actually made its way into the stadium."
Incredibly powerful #Chicago #Storm near O'Hare just collapsed the Dome at Rosemont. #Weather pic.twitter.com/pJ1Wi2XLWS
— Doug Meffley (@VoiceofMeffley) August 2, 2015
