Will County slammed by widespread storm damage, multiple tornadoes confirmed

Tens of thousands of Com Ed customers across Will County are still without power Tuesday evening following Monday night’s storms.

ComEd reported more more than 100,000 customers across northern Illinois were affected by power outages heading into Tuesday night.

Will County Emergency Management Agency Director Allison Anderson said on Tuesday it was “still a little too early” to confirm whether or not tornadoes touched down and how many.

“We’re thinking one to three – maybe four, maybe five,” she said. “This is a pretty widespread event that affected all of Will County.”

The National Weather Service did confirm that an EF-1 tornado did touchdown near Channahon and an EF-0 in Lockport and an EF-1 that traveled from Kendall County into southern Naperville in Will County on Monday night.

The weather service has 29 areas of interest and teams will be investigating including, Kane, Kendall, Grundy, Will, DuPage and Cook counties, said meteorologist Zachary Yack.

Communities assessing damage

The storm was widespread with virtually every community in Will County sustaining damage.

Power lines were knocked down onto Interstate 55, blocking traffic in an area near the Exxon Mobil Refinery in Channahon Township. The interstate there was shut down Tuesday as crews worked to clean the debris and downed lines.

The storm knocked out power for the Exxon Mobil Refinery in Channahon Township, leading to a stink in the air for many residents in Channahon and Elwood.

“They’ve been flaring sulfur dioxide, which is really smelly,” Anderson said. “We’ve been getting a lot of calls from the community.”

She said the sulfur dioxide is emitted high enough into the air that there are no toxins in people’s homes.

Carbon monoxide issues related to a running generator sent 12 people to the hospital, said Joliet police Sgt. Dwayne English. Paramedics had responded to the incident in the 100 block of Iowa Avenue, he said.

Joliet Police reported numerous power lines down throughout the city as a result of the storm. Many roadways were reported to be partially or completely blocked by trees or tree branches Monday night.

Joliet Fire Chief Jeff Carey on Monday night said there were no indications of a tornado touchdown in the city despite media reports earlier.

“All of our reports are just indicating high winds so far,” Carey said. “Our heaviest damage so far is in Marycrest.” The subdivision along Hammes Avenue off of Jefferson Street sustained fallen trees and power lines, Carey said.

In Crest Hill, there was a report of structural damage to a house from fallen trees, said Mike Eulitz, the city’s interim public works director. The city had half a dozen trees come down because of the storms.

No storm-related injuries have been reported, he said.

“For the most part it, appears that Crest Hill was spared from major damage,” Eultiz said.

The impact in New Lenox has been mostly fallen power lines, trees and tree limbs.

New Lenox Public Works Director Mark Brow noted that 1,000 ComEd customers are still without power as of Tuesday afternoon within the village limits, though municipal buildings have had their power restored.

New Lenox received over 200 calls reporting downed trees and branches since the storms came through.

Metra service through the village was temporarily delayed overnight Monday after a tree fell on the tracks just east of the New Lenox Station. According to Brow, a train struck the tree before crews could remove it, but no damage was done to the tracks or the train.

“We fared a good as we could given the circumstances, and better than some other communities,” said Brow. “It was definitely a mess though. We’ll be out all week working on branches and property damage.”

Sounds of chainsaws could be heard in Lockport neighborhoods Tuesday as residents were beginning to clean up branches downed by the storm.

City of Lockport Public Works crews are out Tuesday cleaning up debris from storm damage, according to an update sent out from the city.

“Priority has been given to roadways and sidewalks to provide safe travel to motorists and pedestrians,” according to the news release.

Residents are encouraged to call 815-838-0549 option 8 with emergency requests. Submit all non-emergency requests via the city’s online service portal to keep phone lines clear for emergency requests at cityoflockport.net/213/Submit-a-Service-Request.

Plainfield appears to have escaped the brunt of the storm. John F. Argoudelis, Plainfield president, said Plainfield had no issues, including power outages, tree damage and down traffic lights.

“[It was] just a rumbly summer thunderstorm,” Argoudelis said.

Vito Bonomo, chief of Plainfield Fire Protection District, said it’s “shocking” that Plainfield “got unscathed” by the storm.

Anthony Novak, commander at the Plainfield Police Department, said Plainfield has “no power issues, no reports of flooding” and all road roadways are open.

“We had some trees down due to the high winds,” Novak said. “But all roadways are clear and we have no major impact that I’m aware of at this moment.”