A major snowstorm moved across Chicagoland last weekend, with two rounds of snow dumping several inches in places like Elmwood Park and Franklin Park, and a temperature drop that plunged to subzero and brought with it a windchill as low as minus-27 degrees, according to official weather reports.
Franklin Park mayor Barrett Pedersen told Pioneer Press Monday there were no storm-related traffic incidents in the village and a few power outages.
“We had a brief power outage — probably like 5 or 10 minutes — and they were more like blips where your TV would go off and then go back on,” he said.
Elmwood Park reported similarly minor inconveniences, which town leaders attributed to preparation ahead of the storm.
On Monday, Elmwood Park Village Manager Paul Volpe told Pioneer Press that even with the dangerously low windchills, things were quiet in the village.
“We’re doing OK,” he said. “We got out there. … We were out there Friday and Friday was a long day. It started out pretty heavy and then there was rain in the afternoon which was pretty tricky and then the snow started back up and I was out there until 7 p.m.”
Volpe said the village received 10 messages to the Public Works Department offering praise for “the guys for keeping things plowed.”
Pedersen said he did not have reports from the Franklin Park Public Works Department about impassable streets or dangerous roadways.
“Franklin Park has always had a very strong snow removal record, going back to Michael Bilandic’s response in Chicago,” Pedersen said, referring to the late Chicago mayor who was in office when one of the city’s most iconic snowstorms crippled the area in 1979.
A key to keeping the streets clear, Volpe said, is motorists adhering to parking restrictions. The village has implemented those restrictions, he said, with vehicles not allowed to park on one side of the street or the other on alternating days to allow for better plowing.
“We appreciate the residents helping us out and we appreciate their patience as we work hard to keep the streets clean,” Volpe said. “We realize it’s hard to keep up with the parking regulations but it’s so that we can get out there and keep the streets clean.”
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There was no information provided on calls for emergency service – by police or fire departments – in either Franklin Park or Elmwood Park.
School districts closed buildings and moved students to remote learning Jan. 12 and again Tuesday. Students were already scheduled to be out Monday for the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
In Elmwood Park, the four schools of Elmwood Park School District 401 did e-learning starting Friday “due to the anticipated winter storm,” Superintendent Leah Gauthier told Pioneer Press in an email that day.
The 3,500 students of Franklin Park-based Leyden Community High School District 212 were set to do asynchronous e-learning where “students get to learn on their own schedule, within a certain timeframe,” district officials announced in a notification to families.
Jesse Wright is a freelancer.
Pioneer Press staff contributed.