As severe weather rolled through the south and southwest suburbs Monday, Homewood Mayor Rich Hofeld said his own driveway on Cherrywood Lane was blocked.
Though he wasn’t able to get out to see the full scale of the damage himself, Hofeld said he wouldn’t be surprised to find a tornado had touched down.
“The damage down here in my whole block is incredible,” Hofeld said. Chainsaws cutting up fallen trees and branches were audible in the background of the phone call.
Fellow Homewood resident Cosme Rios posted photos on Facebook at about 2 p.m. showing a large tree that ripped out of the ground and hit his neighbor’s home on 186th Street and May Street.
“It didn’t look like it had deep roots,” he said. “It just kind of toppled over and brushed up to somebody’s home.”
Rios said he went to check on the occupants to confirm they were uninjured and was told there was no obvious penetration from the tree to their house or garage. He said his home was without power as noon, and his area experienced a few minutes of marble-sized hail during the bout of severe weather.
The Homewood Police Department asked residents Monday afternoon to avoid unnecessary travel due to “significant storm damage throughout the community.”
The Homewood-Flossmoor Park District said several of its properties, including the Lions’ Club Pool and Irwin Community Center, closed due to power outages Monday.
The roof of an apartment building at 1400 Woodlawn Avenue in Ford Heights collapsed Monday afternoon, the Ford Heights Fire Department and Cook County sheriff’s office confirmed.
A spokesperson with the sheriff’s office said by the time they arrived, all apartment occupants had evacuated safely. The Ford Heights Fire Department requested that people avoid the area as firefighters continued cleanup efforts.
The Tribune reported that more could be in store later Monday afternoon, as officials were keeping an eye on stronger thunderstorms developing over Wisconsin that could move toward the Chicago area, according to Kevin Donofrio, a meteorologist with the weather service in Chicago.
Orland Park Mayor Jim Dodge said he was well aware Monday of the potential for more storms, and said about 7,000 people in the village of about 58,000 were without power as of 3 p.m.
“It was probably one of the worst storms I’ve seen come through the area, because you can see from all the streets that I’ve driven that have a lot of tree debris on streets and sidewalks,” Dodge said. “That’s pretty much villagewide.”
Dodge said the power outages meant traffic light outages at three major intersections, 159th Street and Ravinia Avenue, 135th Street and Southwest Highway, and 153rd Street and West Avenue. He said village staff were out directing traffic at 159th Street and Ravinia Avenue Monday afternoon.
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Public works crews were also driving along the village’s snowplow routes to clean up large branches blocking roadways.
“That and clearing storm drains is goal Number One,” Dodge said, reminding residents to stay away from downed power lines and report them to ComEd at 1‑800‑334-7661.
Lockport police Sgt. Vince Vitacco said some tornado warning signs were spotted in Lockport, and some trees were downed by high winds, but nothing touched down. In Homer Glen, Mayor Christina Neitzke-Trolke reported in a social media post seeing many downed trees on Old Oak Trail and in subdivisions around the village.
“We were outside doing weather spotting, did notice some possible rotation in the clouds,” Vitacco said. “We asked our dispatch center to activate the emergency warning system.”
Frankfort Mayor Keith Ogle of Frankfort said on social media Frankfort “took a hit,” attaching photos of storm damage that included a destroyed Speedway sign that had peeled off a gas station roof.
Frankfort saw reports of 90 mph winds Monday, Ogle said. He warned residents to be safe, with another storm system incoming and more straight-line winds expected.
The city of Harvey said it was closing its City Hall early and canceled its planned City Council meeting in anticipation of more storms Monday night.
The National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for Tinley Park Monday, and tornado sirens were activated, according to Tinley Park Public Safety.
Officials also said the Tinley Park Public Library and Village Hall would both be closed for the remainder of the day “due to severe storms and power outages.”