The city of Aurora is still recovering after two mornings of heavy storms and high winds this week.
Heavy storms with strong winds over 75 mph hit the Aurora area Tuesday morning, with winds at 97 mph hitting the Aurora Municipal Airport, according to the National Weather Service.
A fast-moving line of strong to severe thunderstorms moved east across the area again mid-morning Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service.
The city received 150 calls through the myAurora 311 app requesting clean-up assistance or reporting debris on roads Wednesday, said city officials.
Up to 20 residential areas across the city experienced power outages or property damage Wednesday, according to the reports. The outages affected nearly 200 ComEd customers, according to a ComEd outage map as of Wednesday afternoon.
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The city also received over 200 requests through the app Tuesday for clean-up help.
Weather conditions also led to some event cancelations in the Aurora area.
The Rusty Rodeo event scheduled for Saturday at two locations in the Fox Valley has been canceled due to recent heavy rainfall, organizers said.
The annual event, co-sponsored by the Forest Preserve District of Kane County, St. Charles Park District, Fox Valley Park District and Friends of the Fox River, was to be held at North Aurora Island Park in North Aurora and Mt. St. Mary’s Park in St. Charles. It aims to gather local residents to help remove rusty crayfish from the river, an invasive species to the area.
Christy Graser, facility manager at Red Oak Nature Center, said the event involved over 600 people last year, and she expects the event to be back “bigger and better” next year.
“It’s just such an easy way to get families to understand the importance of their fresh water ecosystem and what they can do to help and improve it,” said Graser.
This year would have marked the seventh anniversary of the event, which was started just before the COVID-19 pandemic as a summer camp activity and has since expanded to two sites. Graser said Hawthorn Nature Center in Elgin has expressed interest in becoming a third site for the event.
The storms Wednesday morning also caused city of Aurora officials to reschedule a Wednesday groundbreaking event for a project to help restore Mastodon Lake at Aurora’s Phillips Park. The event will now be held at 10 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 20, at the park.
The project aims to help clear sediment and decaying organic matter at the bottom of the lake. It’s supported by a $4 million grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.
Also due to the storms this week, nearly the entire Sugar Grove campus of Waubonsee Community College lost power Tuesday morning, according to Clayton Muhammad, the college’s vice president of community engagement and external affairs.
Classes are scheduled to start at the college this coming Monday.
The power outage affected the admissions office, so employees had to work remotely and answer enrollment and other student questions over the phone, Muhammad said.
But other than that, he said the college did not sustain much damage, and officials were able to notify students through an emergency notification system to avoid coming to campus on Tuesday. Power was restored later that day, officials said.
He said if a major power outage occurred like this next week, during the first days of classes, that would be a larger issue.
Waubonsee wasn’t the only school in the area keeping an eye on the weather. As it geared up for the start of school on Thursday, West Aurora School District 129 experienced some minor storm-related issues on Tuesday, but remained ready for its first day.
Some of the district’s school buildings experienced power issues Tuesday morning, according to West Aurora School District Associate Superintendent of Operations Angie Smith, but all power was back on as of that afternoon.
The district also saw some branches down, and water in Freeman Elementary’s basement that has since been addressed, officials said.
The recent storms have also led to interruptions to planned parking lot work, according to Smith. But they’re not anticipating any impact for the first day of school, she said, and are ready to welcome students to their buildings on Thursday.
Aurora officials said if residents are experiencing damage from the storm, they should fill out the Self-Reporting Damage Assessment Survey.
Responses to the survey help Aurora’s Emergency Management Agency identify the location and severity of storm damage and determine where in-field damage assessments may be needed, officials said.
Molly Morrow of The Beacon-News contributed to this article.
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