Roughly 74,000 Commonwealth Edison Co. customers lost power in the Chicago area Sunday, as winds reaching 55 m.p.h. ripped out power lines, toppled trees and sent debris falling on wires.
Police and emergency crews–from city building inspectors to public works employees and private contractors–rushed throughout the metro area to repair power lines, remove fallen branches and inspect construction sites.
No injuries were reported.
The area was under a wind advisory and Waukegan clocked the 55 m.p.h. winds, the highest of the day, just after 7:30 a.m., but speeds diminished throughout the day from that point.
A strong low-pressure system moving from the southwest up to the northeast pulled warmer temperatures and high winds with it, said Richard Brumer a forecaster for the National Weather Service. As that front moved into Canada, the winds died down, Brumer said. Monday’s winds are expected to be in a normal range of 5 to 10 m.p.h.
But gusts were a challenge for ComEd crews trying to restore power in one area, while lines were falling down in another place.
“Under the conditions that we are experiencing, our system is doing pretty well,” ComEd spokeswoman Judy Mitchell said.
At 9:30 p.m. about 700 customers were still without power. About 250 crews were trying to restore power by midnight.
By noon more than 300 calls about wind damage had come into Chicago’s communications center.
“We’re getting a large amount of calls about debris being blown from construction sites,” 311 center supervisor Lydia Quintana said.
Residents in the 400 block of West Roscoe Street on the North Side woke up to flashing police cars blocking their street after pieces of scaffold on a mid-rise flew to the ground. As city building inspectors made sure the wood plank and steel structure was still secure from up above, many neighbors took it all in stride and walked under the canopy below.
In the suburbs, the story was much the same. Northbrook police closed the 1300 block of Shermer Road after a construction barrier blew down at a restaurant being renovated and scattered construction debris across the road.
“We decided to close the road mostly because of all the nails,” police Cmdr. Jeff Ross said. “There was also a blue tarp over part of the building, but we don’t know where that went.”
In Des Plaines a fallen power line shut down traffic for at least two hours in the 200 block of North River Road.
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Another fallen power line in Barrington created minor traffic problems when it temporarily caused a Metra railroad gate to stick in the upright position near the intersection of Cook and Main Streets, police said.
Wheaton Police Sgt. Tom Heidank summed up feelings among his colleagues: “We’ve had no accidents caused by the winds and no reports of injuries but it’s been a mess.”