A tornado which touched down near the transport hub on Wednesday forced passengers to take cover in a cramped tunnel.
A video of the cramped conditions inside Chicago O’Hare International Airport during a tornado alert has gone viral, prompting social media users to describe the packed scenes as a „new definition of hell.“
The clip, uploaded on Wednesday evening and which, as of 4 a.m. ET, had 1.4 million views, shows people descending a set of escalators into a crowded underground hallway containing what appears to be thousands of travelers.
The original poster, local news reporter Hannah Follman, said passengers were asked to seek shelter due to „several“ tornadoes.
It came as a severe storm system moved in over the Great Lakes region on Wednesday night, prompting a number of tornado warnings across the area by the National Weather Service (NWS). The service confirmed that one had touched down near the airport at around 7 p.m. local time (8 p.m. ET).
It added that the tornado had been „touching the ground intermittently so far“ and that there were „additional circulations along the line south of O’Hare.“ Local channel NBC 5 broadcast rooftop footage of the tornado forming near the busy hub.
„Severe weather is imminent at O’Hare International Airport,“ authorities announced at around 7:40 p.m. ET. „If you’re in the airport, please exercise caution, and follow the instructions of all airport personnel.“
Other images from inside the airport show some of the summer travelers sitting on the floor in the hallway, while others were left to stand.
„New definition of hell just dropped,“ wrote one Twitter user in response to the viral video. „This is my hell I think,“ another said.
„I’d rather spend 3 days on that mega cruise ship than 3 hours in this tunnel at O’Hare,“ a third user tweeted.
One person documented their experience at the airport, starting with their feet up in the United Club lounge, before being „turfed out“ and told to take shelter in the tunnels between concourses. After the tornado passed, they returned to the lounge only to discover their flight had been canceled and rebooked.
The storm wreaked havoc with the airport’s timetable. A total of 335 inbound and outbound flights were canceled on Wednesday and 943 were delayed, according to aviation tracker FlightAware—the most at any airport that day.
As of 4 a.m. ET on Thursday, there had been 24 cancellations, and delays are now fewer than 15 minutes on average, real-time Chicago Department of Aviation figures show.
A similar situation at O’Hare greeted travelers in late March, when passengers were asked to shelter in the airport’s tunnel system due to tornado-producing storms in the region.
According to local reports, the tornado over O’Hare airport on Wednesday was just one of several to touch down across the Chicago metro area, before the storm moved towards Michigan. The NWS gave the all-clear at 8 p.m. ET.
One video uploaded by a downtown resident, in which sirens echoing through the streets can be heard, was posted online shortly after the NWS issued its warning.

The union representing film and television actors says no deal has been reached with studios and streaming services and its leadership will vote on whether to strike later Thursday.
The union representing film and television actors says no deal has been reached with studios and streaming services and its leadership will vote on whether to strike later Thursday.
The Screen Actors Guild -American Federation of Television and Radio Artists said early Thursday that its decision on whether to join already striking screenwriters will be weighed upon by leadership at a meeting later Thursday.
If the actors go on strike, it will be the first time since 1960 that actors and writers picket film and television productions.
The actors’ guild released a statement early Thursday announcing that its deadline for negotiations to conclude had ended without a contract. The statement came hours after this year’s Emmy nominations, recognizing the best work on television, were announced.
“The companies have refused to meaningfully engage on some topics and on others completely stonewalled us. Until they do negotiate in good faith, we cannot begin to reach a deal,” said Fran Drescher, the star of “The Nanny” who is now the actors’ guild president. There was no immediate word from the studios’ negotiating group.
The actors’ guild has previously authorized a strike by a nearly 98% margin.
If the actors strike, they will formally join screenwriters on the picket lines outside studios and filming locations in a bid to get better terms from studios and streaming giants like Netflix and Amazon.
Members of the Writers Guild of America have been on strike since early May, slowing the production of film and television series on both coasts and in production centers like Atlanta.
Issues in negotiations include the unregulated use of artificial intelligence and the effects on residual pay brought on by the streaming ecosystem that has emerged in recent years.
Actors have joined writers on picket lines for weeks in solidarity. An actors’ strike would prevent performers from working on sets or promoting their projects.
Whether the cast of Christopher Nolan’s film “Oppenheimer” attends Thursday’s London premiere hangs in the balance of whether the actors strike.
Attending a photo event on Wednesday, star Matt Damon said that while everyone was hoping a strike could be averted, many actors need a fair contract to survive.
“We ought to protect the people who are kind of on the margins,” Damon told The Associated Press. “And 26,000 bucks a year is what you have to make to get your health insurance. And there are a lot of people whose residual payments are what carry them across that threshold. And if those residual payments dry up, so does their health care. And that’s absolutely unacceptable. We can’t have that. So, we got to figure out something that is fair.”
The looming strike has cast a shadow over the upcoming 75th Emmys. Nominations were announced Wednesday, and the strike was on the mind of many nominees.
“People are standing up and saying, ‘This doesn’t really work, and people need to be paid fairly,’” Oscar-winner Jessica Chastain, who was nominated for her first Emmy Award on Wednesday for playing Tammy Wynette in “George & Tammy,” told the AP. “It is very clear that there are certain streamers that have really kind of changed the way we work and the way that we have worked, and the contracts really haven’t caught up to the innovation that’s happened.”