Chicago residents are in a clean-up after severe weather hit the area, leaving destruction and a significant number of households without electricity. The Chicago Sun-Times reports that more than 15,000 customers were without power following Tuesday's storm, as per a ComEd website. Evanston was particularly hard-hit, with yet-to-be-cleared tree limbs and branches scattered throughout the community, adding to the hazards and headaches for locals and emergency crews alike.
Damaged trees and debris along Sheridan Road created significant traffic issues, according to ABC7 Chicago. Residents described the aftermath as unprecedented, with long-time Evanston resident Dave Baker stating, "You couldn't get down Sheridan." Baker, who has lived in the city for 50 years, detailed the turmoil caused by the storm, which involved navigating around uprooted hundred-year-old trees on his way home.
The storms, which followed a spell of intense heat, led to concentrated areas of damage throughout Chicago's northern suburbs. The National Weather Service highlighted neighborhoods like Bolingbrook/Romeoville, Des Plaines, Evanston, and Wauconda as being particularly affected, with the sudden and powerful force of nature snapping trees and hurling hailstones nearly the size of baseballs in places like Woodstock, as per the Chicago Sun-Times.
Evanston wasn't the only suburb facing the consequences of nature's upheaval; Deerfield too saw crews laboring into the night to clear paths choked with tree limbs and debris. Resident Paulina Barrios recalled the fear as a massive tree snapped and fell onto a family member's car, saying, "It was pretty scary especially because I knew it was a huge tree," according to her interview with ABC7 Chicago. Thankfully, despite significant property damage, no injuries have been reported.
