Gusts of wind in the 50 mph range knocked down trees and power lines on Friday, snarling traffic across Lake County and completely shutting down Sheridan Road and Routes 12 and 22 for short periods of time.
On an unseasonably warm February day that witnessed 62 mph winds out of the southwest at O’Hare International Airport, the College of Lake County’s weather station in Grayslake reported sustained winds of 20 mph at 3:15 p.m. with a peak gust during the afternoon of 49 mph.
Multiple reports from the Lake County Passage traffic-monitoring system about not only wires and trees but also malfunctioning railroad-crossing signals began to pile up after the noon hour. Heavy delays were reported on both Diamond Lake Road south of Route 60 in Mundelein and Route 120 at O’Plaine Road in Waukegan due to downed wires around 2:30 p.m.
The roof was blown off of an 18-unit apartment complex at about 2:30 p.m., on the 2000 block of North Pine Avenue, displacing about 40 people, Waukegan Fire Department spokesman Michael Scholle said. Part of the building’s third floor was exposed and all utilities were disconnected.
Firefighters seearched the building and evacuated residents, Scholle said in an email. There were no injuries reported, he said.
Also around 2:30, traffic on Route 83 at Ivanhoe Road in Grayslake was experiencing delays due to a fallen tree. Sheridan Road between 10th and 14th streets in North Chicago was closed for nearly an hour around the same time because of downed wires.
Around 3 p.m., downed wires completely closed Route 22 between Buesching and Oakwood roads in Lake Zurich. Route 12 was closed for around an hour for the same reason between Old McHenry Road and Lake Shore Drive, with Lake County sheriff’s police directing traffic around the scene.
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Lake County was part of a wide region under a high-wind warning issued for the daytime hours Friday by the National Weather Service. Sustained winds in excess of 30 mph were expected to start subsiding after sunset.
Saturday’s forecast calls for “much less wind” with temperatures nearly matching Friday’s highs, which reached 59 degrees in Grayslake and 61 degrees in Vernon Hills.