Geneva storm aftermath: Stepping up to help

When storms bring devastation to a community, neighbors reach out.

The severe storm that struck the region July 14 damaged nearly 100 trees in Geneva, including two at Faith Lutheran Church, 1745 Kaneville Road.

Part of an old locust tree split off from the main trunk and fell onto a maple tree on the property, church secretary and council member Patty Winter said.

“When we arrived Monday morning, our stomachs sank with what to do,” Winter said in an email. “If we file an insurance claim, it could raise the cost of insurance or perhaps even cause a cancellation of insurance. If we paid out of pocket for such a large tree, the cost would be astronomical.”

Lutheran Church Charities Disaster Response – part of the Lutheran Early Response teams – came to the rescue.

They deploy, coordinate and manage volunteer teams that respond to disasters. Many volunteers have expertise with chain saws, heavy equipment, debris removal, flood recovery, mucking homes and providing emotional and spiritual care, according to its website www.lutheranchurchcharities.org.

“On their staff they have ASI certified arborists,” Winter’s email said. “When he looked at the locust tree, he stated that the largest part of the tree is savable.”

The team came out and removed the damaged portion of the locust tree and the entire maple tree.

“Unfortunately, they could not save the maple tree,” Winter said. “Everything was just split from the top down from the enormous section of the locust tree. Thank goodness the maple tree saved our building. Otherwise the locust tree would have fallen on it.”

The maple tree did not collapse, but was split by the weight of the locust tree, she said.

“God intervened with LERT,” Winter said. “We are thankful that they came out and did it all for us.”

In the 300 block of North Fourth Street, Marcia Smith was sheltering in the basement Sunday night, July 14, when she heard a thud.

“I thought it was a big branch ... and I didn’t realize it was the whole tree until I came out,” Smith said. “The second story seems to be OK.”

A large maple tree in the corner of the property was uprooted and landed across the driveway, damaging the detached garage and landing in the home’s backyard.

“My son’s car is usually in the driveway but he was out with friends. Thank goodness,” Smith said.

As she stood on the sidewalk surveying the damage, Mark Weaver, owner of Inglenook Pantry, came from across the street to give Smith a plate of cookies.

“Oh, thank you,” Smith said and Weaver nodded.

Two young boys on bicycles came riding up and asked if Smith was all right.

She said she was and thanked them for their concern.

A while later, the same two boys were pulling downed branches from a front yard in the 300 block of South Third Street onto the parkway for pickup.

They declined to be interviewed.

“We’re just trying to help,” one of them said.

As Geneva Public Works employees worked through the night to deal with electric poles snapped in half and remove fallen trees from roads, workers from Rantoul and Princeton assisted.

At Public Works Director Rich Babica’s request, 2nd Ward Alderperson Richard Marks made a point of thanking those two cities during the July 15 Committee of the Whole.

Princeton is almost 100 miles from Geneva. Rantoul is almost 150 miles away.

“We’d like to give a great shoutout,” Marks said. “They’ve had to travel up here and brought their equipment ... to give our crews a little bit of a rest and try to get whatever power is still out up and going. We thank them publicly and Mr. Babica if you would please also let them know our gratefulness for coming up to help when we needed it. ... Every little bit of help [with] our crews out there in this heat and weather is greatly, greatly appreciated.”

The city’s Facebook page also thanked Kane County, Warrenville, West Chicago, Arlington Heights and Hoffman Estates for assistance.