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Quick & mean storms knock out power, closes offices
Updated: July 3, 2012 12:38PM
Sunday afternoon’s storm hit mostly north of The Doings area, but power outages and office closings may affect residents for days.
The storms eventually caused 250,000 ComEd customers to lose power. As of 2:30 a.m. Monday, 113,000 customers were still without power.
Forecasters predicted more storms Monday.
The Greater La Grange YMCA facility in LaGrange Park remained without power Monday morning. Power was restored early Monday afternoon.
DuPage County offices in Wheaton are closed today due to power outages.
“The Wheaton campus has been without power since the storm hit the area yesterday,” County Board Chairman Dan Cronin said. “We are working with County Facilities and the Health Department to ensure safe working environments for our staff. Due to the anticipated record high temperatures today, we felt it was best to close the campus for county business.”
Despite the closing of the government complex, Cronin said critical facility and public safety operations will remain open such as the DuPage County Sheriff’s Department, the Convalescent Center, Animal Control and the County’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.
“We are working closely with ComEd and anticipate that the campus will be open for business tomorrow,” said Cronin.
The county has partnered with Benedictine University in Lisle to provide residents with a cooling center and shelter. The cooling center and shelter is provided by Benedictine University in conjunction with the County’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. The shelter is located at the Krasa Center, located at 5700 College Road in Lisle.
On Sunday, area residents had little time to prepare for what was about to hit them when the National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the west suburbs at 11:25 a.m. It included Chicago in another warning at 12:24 p.m., and storms hit central Cook County shortly before 1 p.m.
The weather service heard reports of winds up to 80 to 90 mph, starting in the Elburn and Maple Park areas and moving east into central DuPage County. Winds measured up to 60 mph near O’Hare Airport.
Reports of hail came in from Will, Kane, DuPage and Cook counties, including some bigger than an inch reported in Wheaton, Addison and Brookfield.
National Weather Service meteorologist Bill Nelson said temperatures dropped in DuPage County, near Midway and O’Hare from a high of 91 degrees before the storms hit to lows of 64, 67 and 69, respectively. When the storms passed, he said, the entire region rebounded to the upper 80s and low 90s.
However brief, the hostile weather caused plenty of lasting damage.
