A violent storm that ripped through the Elgin area early Wednesday evening left public works crews cleaning up debris and a smattering of locations without power as of Thursday afternoon.
“For the most part, we fared pretty well,” East Dundee Public Works Director Phil Cotter said.
The most dangerous situation appeared to be on Barrington Avenue, west of East Dundee Village Hall, where a light, a utility pole and part of a parkway tree were felled by strong winds, leaving power lines dangling across the road. Crews were working to rectify the situation Thursday.
Residents of a home across the street from the downed poles and tree, who did not want to give their names, said a tornado warning on their phones went off about 6 p.m. Wednesday. They were in their basement and did not hear any of the damage that occurred, they said.
A large branch fell on top of a car hood outside a home at the southeast corner of Second Street and Barrington Avenue and a large fallen tree branch could be seen near the kayak launch on Water Street.
Staff at Rosie O’Hare’s Public House on Water Street said their power went out about 6:15 p.m., leading them to close shortly after 8 p.m. Power was restored about 11:30 p.m., the said.
Severe weather warning sirens blared throughout the area Wednesday, but officials from Elgin, South Elgin and West Dundee said damage seemed limited to downed branches and power outages.
Elgin Public Museum officials posted on social media Thursday that a couple of large oak trees in Lords Park came down during the Wednesday storm.
Carpentersville residents said marble-sized hail fell in parts of the village twice during the storm, and according to village media posts Wednesday night, a downed power line resulted in Lake Marian Road being closed between Park Avenue and Williams Road. It was reopened by midmorning Thursday.
“There was a fire in the unincorporated Lake Marian area Wednesday evening that was minor and unrelated to the storm,” Carpentersville Village Manager Brad Stewart said.
Shortly before noon Thursday, seven power outages remained in the Dundee-Carpentersville area and nine in Elgin, according to ComEd’s online outage map. An Elgin resident late Thursday morning said one of those outages was at the Jewel-Osco at 1040 Summit St. in Elgin.
According to the National Weather Service website, one brief tornado was spotted near Huntley during the storm and straight-line wind damage was reported around Bartlett, Hanover Park and Streamwood.
NWS Senior Service Hydrologist Scott Lincoln said reports from Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network volunteers showed the highest local rain totals from 7 a.m. Wednesday to 7 p.m. Thursday were 1.82 inches on the south side of Elgin and 1.5 inches on the south side of Algonquin.
Mike Danahey is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
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