CHICAGO (AP) — Hundreds of people in a southern Illinois town were ordered to evacuate Tuesday as water rolled over the top of a dam, just one perilous result of severe weather that raged through the Midwest overnight with relentless rain and tornadoes and hit the Chicago area especially hard.
Hundreds of thousands of people lost power, and even weather forecasters had to briefly scramble for safety. The National Weather Service cited a tornado in Des Moines, Iowa, one in Chicago and at least four others in the Chicago area as storms rolled through Monday afternoon and into the night. Police responded to calls about utility poles that snapped in two. A woman in Indiana died after a tree fell on a home Monday night.
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CHICAGO (AP) — Hundreds of people in a southern Illinois town were ordered to evacuate Tuesday as water rolled over the top of a dam, just one perilous result of severe weather that raged through the Midwest overnight with relentless rain and tornadoes and hit the Chicago area especially hard.
Resident Daniel Ortiz helps clear downed trees along West Huron Street in Chicago's West Town neighborhood, Tuesday, July 16, 2024, after severe storms passed through the Chicago area the night before. (Pat Nabong/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
Resident Daniel Ortiz helps clear downed trees along West Huron Street in Chicago's West Town neighborhood, Tuesday, July 16, 2024, after severe storms passed through the Chicago area the night before. (Pat Nabong/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
A cyclist rides a bike as a downed tree blocks the road near the intersection of West Huron Street and North Hoyne Avenue in Chicago's West Town neighborhood, Tuesday, July 16, 2024, after severe storms passed through the Chicago area the night before. (Pat Nabong/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
Ezra Solomon, 8, helps clear the road of debris near the intersection of West Huron and North Leavitt streets in Chicago's West Town neighborhood, Tuesday, July 16, 2024, after severe storms passed through the Chicago area the night before. (Pat Nabong/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
People take pictures of downed trees near the intersection of West Huron Street and North Hoyne Avenue in Chicago's West Town neighborhood, Tuesday, July 16, 2024, after severe storms passed through the Chicago area the night before. (Pat Nabong/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
Roger O'Hearnahan helps clear a tree from a road near West Huron and North Leavitt street in Chicago's West Town neighborhood, Tuesday, July 16, 2024, after severe storms passed through the Chicago area the night before. (Pat Nabong/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
A Porsche damaged by a downed tree is seen near the intersection of West Huron and North Leavitt streets in Chicago's West Town neighborhood, Tuesday, July 16, 2024, after severe storms passed through the Chicago area the night before. (Pat Nabong/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
Workers clear a tree that toppled onto a home in Norridge, Illinois, Tuesday, July 16, 2024. The tree was toppled as storms with reports of tornadoes blew through Iowa, Illinois and Indiana. (AP Photo/Teresa Crawford)
The roots of a large tree are seen on a lawn in Norridge, Ill., Tuesday, July 16, 2024. The tree was toppled as storms with reports of tornadoes blew through Iowa, Illinois and Indiana. (AP Photo/Teresa Crawford)
Workers cleared an uprooted tree from a lawn in Norridge, Ill., Tuesday, July 16, 2024. The tree was toppled as storms with reports of tornadoes blew through Iowa, Illinois and Indiana. (AP Photo/Teresa Crawford)
Vehicles make their way through a flooded section of DuSable Lake Shore Drive after a second severe storm raged through Chicago, Monday, July 15, 2024. (Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
“We kind of heard a gust of wind that came up quick and we decided — my uncle decided — that we’d all go into the basement,” said Mihajlo Jevdosic, 16, in Norridge, Illinois, where residents swapped stories of the storm and watched a crew clear a tree. “And as we went in the basement, we heard a big thump and the tree fell on the house.”
The weather service's Chicago office said preliminary findings indicated that an EF-1 tornado struck an area of Chicago that included the western portions of the Loop on Monday night. The weather service said EF-1 tornadoes struck two other areas of suburban Chicago in Illinois. EF-0 twisters were reported in Illinois and Indiana suburbs of Chicago.
Water overtopped a dam near Nashville, Illinois, and first responders fanned out to ensure everyone escaped safely. There were no reports of injuries in the community of 3,000, southeast of St. Louis, but a woman was rescued after reporting that she was in water up to her waist in her home, said Alex Haglund, a spokesperson for the Washington County Emergency Management Agency.
About 300 people were in the evacuation zone near the city reservoir, officials said. The rest of Nashville was not in imminent danger from the dam failure, but flash flooding on roads created worries about water rescues.
Water began to recede in Nashville by Tuesday afternoon. But Haglund said those evacuated won't be allowed back into their homes until Wednesday at the earliest. The good news: None of the homes appeared to have obvious structural damage, Haglund said.
The office manager at Zapp’s Repair in Nashville said 10 vehicles were stranded at the auto shop. A dumpster behind the business floated down Highway 15.
“I can tell you there was 3 feet (1 meter) of water in the office,” Delsa King said. “I was going to move some vehicles, but I couldn’t find the keys in the floodwater. ... The owner has been there over 30 years and never seen water in the shop.”
The National Weather Service said 5 to7 inches (12.7 to 17.8 centimeters) of rain fell over an eight-hour period. Additional heavy rain was in the forecast. A long stretch of Interstate 64 in the Nashville area was closed.
The 89-year-old dam was last inspected in 2021 and categorized as a “high hazard” dam, which means a failure is likely to result in the loss of at least one life, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The condition of the dam was not available in the online data.
As the storms swept the Chicago area late Monday, employees at a suburban weather service office had to pass coverage duties to a Michigan post for five minutes. The agency reported wind speeds in the region as high as 75 mph (120 kph).
“We did have an area of rotation,” meteorologist Zachary Yack said, referring to extreme rotating wall clouds. “And it kind of developed right near our office here in Romeoville, Illinois. ... We went and took cover. We have a storm shelter here.”
Carol Gillette said she heard a crash that sounded “like a bomb” as trees smashed cars and houses in Oswego, Illinois.
“I haven’t called the insurance yet. I don’t know where to start," Gillette told WBBM-TV.
By noon, 215,000 customers lacked power in Illinois, though the number was much higher hours earlier, according to PowerOutage.us. Chicago’s O’Hare and Midway airports reported dozens of flight cancellations Tuesday morning.
A 44-year-old woman died in Cedar Lake, Indiana, in the southern fringes of the Chicago area, after a tree fell on her house, the Lake County coroner’s office said. The exact cause of death was unknown.
The Chicago Fire Department said on the social media site X that there was only one serious injury in the nation's third-largest city, a person who was hurt when a tree fell on a car.
The storms also cut power to thousands in Ohio and Pennsylvania and caused damage to property, trees and power lines. No injuries were reported.
White reported from Detroit and Salter from O'Fallon, Missouri. Associated Press writer Teresa Crawford in Norridge, Illinois, and Associated Press data editor Angeliki Kastanis in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
A passer-by takes pictures of a downed tree near West Huron Street and North Hoyne Avenue in Chicago's West Town neighborhood, Tuesday, July 16, 2024, after severe storms passed through the Chicago area the night before. (Pat Nabong/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
Resident Daniel Ortiz helps clear downed trees along West Huron Street in Chicago's West Town neighborhood, Tuesday, July 16, 2024, after severe storms passed through the Chicago area the night before. (Pat Nabong/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
Resident Daniel Ortiz helps clear downed trees along West Huron Street in Chicago's West Town neighborhood, Tuesday, July 16, 2024, after severe storms passed through the Chicago area the night before. (Pat Nabong/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
A cyclist rides a bike as a downed tree blocks the road near the intersection of West Huron Street and North Hoyne Avenue in Chicago's West Town neighborhood, Tuesday, July 16, 2024, after severe storms passed through the Chicago area the night before. (Pat Nabong/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
Ezra Solomon, 8, helps clear the road of debris near the intersection of West Huron and North Leavitt streets in Chicago's West Town neighborhood, Tuesday, July 16, 2024, after severe storms passed through the Chicago area the night before. (Pat Nabong/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
People take pictures of downed trees near the intersection of West Huron Street and North Hoyne Avenue in Chicago's West Town neighborhood, Tuesday, July 16, 2024, after severe storms passed through the Chicago area the night before. (Pat Nabong/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
Roger O'Hearnahan helps clear a tree from a road near West Huron and North Leavitt street in Chicago's West Town neighborhood, Tuesday, July 16, 2024, after severe storms passed through the Chicago area the night before. (Pat Nabong/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
A Porsche damaged by a downed tree is seen near the intersection of West Huron and North Leavitt streets in Chicago's West Town neighborhood, Tuesday, July 16, 2024, after severe storms passed through the Chicago area the night before. (Pat Nabong/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
Workers clear a tree that toppled onto a home in Norridge, Illinois, Tuesday, July 16, 2024. The tree was toppled as storms with reports of tornadoes blew through Iowa, Illinois and Indiana. (AP Photo/Teresa Crawford)
The roots of a large tree are seen on a lawn in Norridge, Ill., Tuesday, July 16, 2024. The tree was toppled as storms with reports of tornadoes blew through Iowa, Illinois and Indiana. (AP Photo/Teresa Crawford)
Workers cleared an uprooted tree from a lawn in Norridge, Ill., Tuesday, July 16, 2024. The tree was toppled as storms with reports of tornadoes blew through Iowa, Illinois and Indiana. (AP Photo/Teresa Crawford)
Vehicles make their way through a flooded section of DuSable Lake Shore Drive after a second severe storm raged through Chicago, Monday, July 15, 2024. (Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
WINDER, Ga. (AP) — The 14-year-old suspect in a shooting that killed four people at a Georgia high school and his father, who was arrested for allowing his son to have a weapon, will stay in custody after their lawyers decided not to seek bail Friday.
Colt Gray, who has been charged with four counts of murder, is accused of using a semiautomatic assault-style rifle to kill two fellow students and two teachers Wednesday at Apalachee High School in Winder, outside Atlanta. His father, Colin Gray, faces related charges in the latest attempt by prosecutors to hold parents responsible for their children’s actions in school shootings.
The two appeared in back-to-back hearings Friday morning with about 50 onlookers in the courtroom, where workers had set out boxes of tissue along the benches, in addition to members of the media and sheriff’s deputies. Some victims' family members in the front row hugged each other and one woman clutched a stuffed animal.
During his hearing, Colt Gray, wearing khaki pants and a green shirt, was advised of his rights as well as the charges and penalties he faced for the shooting at the school where he was a student.
After the hearing, he was escorted out in shackles at the wrists and ankles. The judge then called the teen back to the courtroom to correct an earlier misstatement that his crimes could be punishable by death. Because he’s a juvenile, the maximum penalty he would face is life without parole. The judge also set another hearing for Dec. 4.
Shortly afterward, Colin Gray was brought into court dressed in a gray-striped jail uniform. Colin Gray, 54, was charged Thursday in connection with the shooting and answered questions in a barely audible croak, giving his age and saying he finished 11th grade, earning a high school equivalency diploma.
Colin Gray has been charged with involuntary manslaughter and second-degree murder related to the shooting, Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey said.
“His charges are directly connected with the actions of his son and allowing him to possess a weapon,” Hosey said.
The charges come five months after Michigan parents Jennifer and James Crumbley were the first convicted in a U.S. mass school shooting. They were sentenced to at least 10 years in prison for not securing a firearm at home and acting indifferently to signs of their son’s deteriorating mental health before he killed four students in 2021. The Georgia shootings have also renewed debate about safe storage laws for guns and have parents wondering how to talk to their children about school shootings and trauma.
The Barrow County hearings for the father and son came as police in the Atlanta suburb of Dunwoody said schools there and nationwide have received threats of violence since the Apalachee High School shooting, police said in a statement. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation also noted that numerous threats have been made to schools across the state this week.
Before Colin Gray’s arrest was reported, the AP knocked on the door of a home listed as his address seeking comment about his son’s arrest.
According to arrest warrants obtained by The Associated Press, Colt Gray is accused of using a “black semi-automatic AR-15 style rifle” to kill the two students and two teachers. Authorities have not offered any motive or explained how he obtained the gun or got it into the school.
He was charged as an adult in the deaths of Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14, Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53. Nine people were also hurt in Wednesday’s attack.
A neighbor remembered Schermerhorn as inquisitive when he was a little boy. Aspinwall and Irimie were both math teachers, and Aspinwall also helped coach the school's football team. Irimie, who immigrated from Romania, volunteered at a local church, where she taught dance.
Colt Gray denied threatening to carry out a school shooting when authorities interviewed him last year about a menacing post on social media, according to a sheriff’s report obtained Thursday. Conflicting evidence on the post’s origin left investigators unable to arrest anyone, the report said. Jackson County Sheriff Janis Mangum said she reviewed the report from May 2023 and found nothing that would have justified bringing charges at the time.
The attack was the latest among dozens of school shootings across the U.S. in recent years, including especially deadly ones in Newtown, Connecticut; Parkland, Florida; and Uvalde, Texas. The classroom killings have set off fervent debates about gun control but there has been little change to national gun laws.
It was the 30th mass killing in the U.S. so far this year, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University. At least 127 people have died in those killings, which are defined as events in which four or more people die within a 24-hour period, not including the killer — the same definition used by the FBI.
Martin reported from Atlanta. Associated Press journalists Charlotte Kramon, Sharon Johnson, Mike Stewart and Erik Verduzco in Winder; Trenton Daniel and Beatrice Dupuy in New York; Eric Tucker in Washington; Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia; Kate Brumback in Atlanta; and Mark Thiessen in Anchorage, Alaska, contributed to this report.
Colin Gray, 54, the father of Apalachee High School shooter Colt Gray, 14, enters the Barrow County courthouse for his first appearance, on Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Colt Gray, charged as an adult with four counts of murder, sits in the Barrow County courthouse during his first appearance for the Wednesday shooting at Apalachee High School, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, Pool)
Colin Gray, 54, the father of Apalachee High School shooter Colt Gray, 14, sits in the Barrow County courthouse for his first appearance, on Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Colin Gray, 54, the father of Apalachee High School shooter Colt Gray, 14, enters the Barrow County courthouse for his first appearance, on Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Colin Gray, 54, the father of Apalachee High School shooter Colt Gray, 14, enters the Barrow County courthouse for his first appearance, on Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Colin Gray, 54, the father of Apalachee High School shooter Colt Gray, 14, enters the Barrow County courthouse for his first appearance, on Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Barrow County Superior Court Judge Currie Mingledorff II speaks during a first appearance of Colt Gray at the Barrow County courthouse for the Wednesday shooting at Apalachee High School, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, Pool)
Colt Gray departs the Barrow County courthouse during his first appearance for the Wednesday shooting at Apalachee High School, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, Pool)
Colt Gray leaves the the Barrow County courthouse after his first appearance for the Wednesday shooting at Apalachee High School, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, Pool)
Colt Gray, left, sits in the Barrow County courthouse during his first appearance for the Wednesday shooting at Apalachee High School, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, Pool)
Colt Gray leaves the the Barrow County courthouse after his first appearance for the Wednesday shooting at Apalachee High School, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, Pool)
Colt Gray, charged as an adult with four counts of murder, sits in the Barrow County courthouse during his first appearance for the Wednesday shooting at Apalachee High School, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, Pool)
Mourners pray during a candlelight vigil for the slain students and teachers at Apalachee High School, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Mourners pray during a candlelight vigil for the slain students and teachers at Apalachee High School, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
People leave Apalachee High School, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
A medical helicopter is seen in front of Apalachee High School after a shooting at the school Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Students and parents walk off campus at Apalachee High School, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Mourners hold candles during a candlelight vigil for the slain students and teachers at Apalachee High School, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
A family leaves a memorial where the American and state of Georgia flags fly half-staff after a shooting Wednesday at Apalachee High School, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Mourners pray during a candlelight vigil for the slain students and teachers at Apalachee High School, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Parents walk their child out of Apalachee High School after a shooting at the school Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Mourners listen to a speaker during a candlelight vigil for the slain students and teachers at Apalachee High School, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Chimain Douglas, of Grayson, Ga., cries near Apalachee High School as she mourns for the slain students and teachers on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
The rental home of Colt Gray, the 14-year-old suspect who has been charged as an adult with murder in the shootings Wednesday, Sept. 4., at Apalachee High School, is shown Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
This booking image provided by the Barrow County, Ga., Sheriff's Office shows Colt Gray, the 14-year-old suspect who has been charged as an adult with murder in the shootings Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024, at Apalachee High School in Winder, Ga. (Barrow County Sheriff's Office via AP)
Brandy Rickaba and her daughter Emilie pray during a candlelight vigil for the slain students and teachers at Apalachee High School, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Mark Gorman holds a candle during a candlelight vigil for the slain students and teachers at Apalachee High School, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Chimain Douglas, of Grayson, Ga., kneels near Apalachee High School as she mourns for the slain students and teachers on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Linda Carter, of Grayson, Ga., kneels near Apalachee High School to place flowers as she mourns for the slain students and teachers on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
The American and state of Georgia flags fly half-staff after a shooting Wednesday at Apalachee High School, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
A student weeps at a makeshift memorial after a shooting Wednesday at Apalachee High School, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Two students view a memorial as the flags fly half-staff after a shooting Wednesday at Apalachee High School, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
People embrace at a makeshift memorial after a shooting Wednesday at Apalachee High School, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
