Naperville is in recovery mode following heavy storms that have tested the area since Sunday, with more rain expected this weekend.
The back-to-back storms are the latest in an unusually volatile year that has already brought a record-breaking number of tornadoes to Illinois, including an EF-0 tornado that touched down briefly in Naperville on June 11.
“This is the most active severe season we’ve had on record,” said Kevin Doom, meteorologist for the National Weather Service, based in Romeoville. “We’ve seen more tornadoes in the state of Illinois than any year on record, and we’re not done yet with severe weather season. And the number of severe thunderstorm warnings exceeds any other year.”
As of Thursday morning, 330 severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings had been issued this year, breaking the previous record of 273 in 2006, Doom said.
Naperville has felt the effects of the severe weather.
City staff responded to dozens of service requests related to flooding along city streets, including in the downtown area, from the rain that fell about 4 p.m. Sunday, city spokesperson Linda LaCloche said.
The city received an average of about 1.5 inches of rain that, LaCloche said, with the National Weather Service reporting rainfall totals as high as 2.8 inches on the city’s south side. More rain fell on Monday, Doom noted.
Tuesday brought even more severe weather, including a tornado warning, wind speeds of 70 mph to 80 mph in some areas and rainfall accumulations of between 1 and 1.5 inches, Doom said.
“It looks like the worst damage was a little south and southwest of you close to Oswego and down into Plainfield,” he said. “Looks like you guys just maybe missed out on some of the worst stuff.”
Wednesday saw another round of storms, with rainfall ranging from four-tenths to half an inch, Doom said. Naperville has had a total of between 3 to 3.5 inches of rain since Sunday.
As of Thursday morning, the city had received 701 service requests related to this week’s storms, with residents reporting everything from flooded streets to fallen tree branches, LaCloche said. While the requests are citywide, many were concentrated in the southwest part of the city, she said.
“This is going to be a long week,” Mayor Scott Wehrli wrote in a social media post. “I have already heard from folks who spent Tuesday night helping a neighbor drag limbs out of a driveway.”
The Naperville area could be in for more storms before the week’s over, although Doom noted the severity is unlikely to be close to what was experienced earlier in the week.
“We have a flood watch out for Will County, not for DuPage, for the expectation of additional rain and thunderstorms (Thursday),” Doom said. “We do expect that the heavier rain and storms are going to track a little further south of Naperville.”
The Forest Preserve District of DuPage County announced on social media that the Greene Valley Scenic Overlook would be closed Saturday and Sunday due to recent storm damage to the preserve’s roadway and the surrounding Hawk Trail.
“I grew up in Illinois and I’ve never experienced prolonged bad weather like this,” 57-year-old Naperville resident Rachel Simner said.
While her home was spared from damage in this week’s storms, a fallen tree branch knocked down a fence panel at her parents’ home in Oak Forest, she said.
As Naperville continues to clean up, the city plans to hold a special brush collection starting Monday. Residents must place loose, unbundled brush and tree debris on the parkway in front of their homes by 6 a.m. Monday. Public works crews will pass through each neighborhood once to pick up items.
Trash collection company Groot also will be picking up bagged and bundled brush and yard waste on residents’ regular garbage and recycling collection days during the weeks of Aug. 17 and Aug. 24. Yard waste stickers will not be required during this time.
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Bagged and bundled materials must adhere to Groot’s yard waste collection guidelines and stickers will be required again starting the week of Aug. 31.
More information and updates on the special citywide brush collection can be found at naperville.il.us/yardwaste.