Thick smoke was hovering over parts of Rockford, Ill., a suburb of Chicago,Saturday morning, after a train derailed there at 8:30 p.m. on Friday night andwas followed by explosions. One person was killed and at least three othershave been severely injured and burned. Twelve ethanol-filled tanker cars wereablaze, creating a dangerous situation that led to mandatory evacuations ofsurrounding areas.It took more than two dozen area fire departments to put out the fire.

investigations are under way to determine how this tragic scene unfolded onFriday night.

The Chicago area was ravaged by round after round of torrential rain andsevere storms on Friday, leading into the evening hours. Not only were windsover 60 mph and large hail reported, but flash flooding was widespreadthroughout Chicago itself and the Rockford area. One high-water rescue from acar was even performed in Rockford during the afternoon.

Weather observations taken at the Greater Rockford Airport in Illinoisbetween 7:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. CDT show that there were heavy storms in thearea just before the time of derailment. Winds were also gusting between 31 and51 mph during this period of time. The heavy downpours were also reducing thevisibility to as low as a quarter of a mile as about 3 inches of rain fell inless than an hour.

It is likely that the dangerous weather in the area was at least partiallyto blame for this devastating accident in Rockford that claimed the life of awoman, who was waiting for the train to pass. Shallow standing water couldquickly build up in rain falling this heavily and may have caused the train tohydroplane. According to the Rockford Register Star, eyewitnesses claimed thatthis is exactly what they saw take place on Friday evening. Another possibilityis that high water could have even collected over part of the tracks, causingthe train to derail.

By AccuWeather.com Meteorologist Meghan Evans