Oct 2, 2006 11:24 pm US/Central
Sudden Storms Leave Trail Of Damage
STNG and CBS 2's Dana Kozlov and Suzanne Le Mignot contributed to this report.
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Monday's storms uprooted trees in Crest Hill.
CBS
Lightning strikes, heavy rain, tornado warnings and watches Monday night left plenty of people without power. It came on the heels of a sudden storm that dropped hail and left a trail of damage in its wake across much of the Chicago area.
ComEd reports 116,000 people are without power, and 260 crews will work through the night to get the power restored. Power lines are down across DuPage County, including Wheaton, Bensenville and Lisle.
Near the Lake Forest oasis, CBS 2's Dana Kozlov reported seeing bright quick flashes of light to fierce lightning bolts. At times the rain fell in sheets.
Drenching rains, lightning and hail took a toll on the southwest suburbs. CBS 2's Suzanne Le Mignot reports high winds tore up trees and flooded streets from Crest Hill to Joliet. Downed tree limbs line nearly every street. One homeowner said a tree that fell on her house rattled the kitchen cabinets off its hinges.
Another woman said she couldn't open her front door because of the wind and hail blowing in.
Thunderstorms and downpours raced through the Chicago area Monday, leaving crews from the city's Streets & Sanitation's Bureaus of Forestry & Electricity with a mess to clean up, including a total of 60 traffic lights being out.
In addition, the department bureaus responded to 121 reports of damaged trees, including trees, limbs and branches in the public way, according to a Streets and Sanitation release.
Crews also responded to 13 city street light poles being damaged and 11 wires, either from city light poles or streets lights, being downed, the release said.
According to the National Weather Service, the heaviest rain fell in northern Cook and southern Lake counties, bounded by an area from Barrington to Mundelein to Deerfield to Wheeling to Arlington Heights, where two to three inches as fallen.
The weather service issued an "urban and small stream flood advisory" in effect until 12:30 a.m. Tuesday for DuPage, north and central Cook, Lake and McHenry counties.
The weather service is predicting showers and thunderstorms were likely before 3 a.m. Tuesday. Monday night was expected to reach a low around 66 degrees with south to southwest winds traveling between 10 and 15 mph.
As for Tuesday, the weather service is predicting a 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, with a high near 85 degrees. Winds were expected to travel south to southwest between 10 and 15 mph.
Showers and thunderstorms were likely Tuesday overnight, mainly after 1a.m. Wednesday, according to the weather service's Web site. Tuesday night was expected to reach a low around 60 degrees with a breezy southwest wind traveling between 15 and 20 mph.
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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