Will County braces for more storms after weekend winds

Will County — Overnight and early morning storms blew through Will County on Sunday and Monday, leaving many without power and damaging buildings in Joliet.

Fortunately, most of the area avoided significant storm damage with many communities only needing to pick up branches or small trees knocked down by high winds.

“We didn’t have any major damage,” said Crest Hill Public Works Department employee Kim Linden, late Monday morning. “We have teams out picking up a lot of fallen branches and things like that, but that’s it.”

Plainfield Public Works reported a similar situation, with staff member Tony Torres noting “luckily, we didn’t experience anything too bad. Most of the really serious weather hit south of us. We had a few branches down, but nothing that caused any road closures.”

Lockport’s trees experienced the most damage in the storm, with two smaller trees reportedly knocked down within city parkways, though Public Works was able to remove them Monday morning.

“We lucked out,” said Streets Department Supervisor Joe Cronin. “We’re hoping for the same thing tonight.”

Following a day of potentially dangerous heat, another round of storms is anticipated to come through northern Illinois on Monday night and potentially last into Tuesday morning.

The Will County Emergency Management Agency noted in a statement to the Herald-News that damage from the weekend’s storms was limited, but that the Emergency Operations center is “now activated to monitor the storms as they come through and to provide timely updates to our public safety partners.”

“We encourage all residents to be prepared for overnight severe weather, as overnight storms are particularly dangerous since people are generally sleeping,” said Will County EMA Director Allison Anderson.

Anderson suggested that residents stay tuned to weather alerts and review their family’s emergency plans to shelter-in-place as the anticipated weather conditions could lead to potential tornadoes or destructive high winds.

According to Anderson, Will County EMA is also monitoring for flash floods to the possibility for “torrential downpours” on top of the significant rainfall that has already hit the area in the past few days.

“The potential for roadways to be quickly inundated with standing water is high,” Anderson said. “We urge anyone traveling by vehicle to avoid water on the roadway. It is difficult to assess the condition of the road, especially in the dark, which can lead to trapped or damaged vehicles.”

While no severe flooding took place over the weekend, a flood watch has been issued for Will County until 3 a.m. Tuesday and the area is considered at “moderate risk for severe weather” according to the Joliet Weather Center.