Hundreds of properties were damaged in Arlington Heights following Friday’s storm that also caused power outages and injuries in neighboring towns.
Arlington Heights’ downtown area was among the hardest hit in the afternoon storm that brought winds that reached more than 50 miles per hour to the northwest suburbs, officials said.
“This one got intense pretty quick,” said Scott Shirley, Arlington Heights public works director. “We’re still kind of consumed right now by what happened on Friday.”
The village has announced a six-week clean-up process for property owners. Starting Sept. 15, crews will hit the streets in one pass to take away debris or put them through a chipper on site. The byproduct will be recycled for composting.
Residents are asked to stack them in piles no taller than two feet on the parkway without blocking the sidewalks or driveways. The broken ends should face the road or toward oncoming traffic. Root balls or other landscaping garbage will not be removed, officials said.
“We hope it’s not going to be six weeks. That’s kind of the worst-case scenario,” Shirley said. “We’re just picking up branches from storm-damaged vegetation.”
Following the 3 p.m. storm on Friday, workers were out in force through Saturday evening to clear roads blocked by fallen tree debris, as well as driveways and sidewalks. A small crew on Sunday handled the most urgent calls remaining.
About 17,000 Arlington Heights properties lost power, including some village pump stations for sewer and water that had to be put on generators. All power in the village was restored by 11:30 p.m. Sunday.
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No injuries were reported in Arlington Heights. There were some close calls and injuries in Mount Prospect and Des Plaines. The same storm caused a tree in Erickson Woods near north suburban Northfield to uproot and strike actress Molly Glynn, who was biking. Glynn died Saturday.
The Mount Prospect fire department responded to two reports of a tree falling onto a vehicle, officials said. In both incidents —one on Laurel Drive and another in the 600 block of Wille Street — the drivers reported being on the road when a tree hit them. Both drivers were able to get out of the vehicle on their own.
“They were driving when the trees fell on the car. They were very lucky,” said Henry Dawson, deputy fire chief, of the drivers escaping unharmed.
In Des Plaines, four construction workers and a firefighter were hospitalized after a brick wall partially collapsed near River and Rand roads. Emergency crews were flagged down to the scene as they were headed to another call, according to Alan Wax, fire chief.
Those with minor injuries included two workers and the firefighter, who were taken to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, and another worker, who was taken to Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights.
A fourth worker who was taken to Lutheran General Hospital was initially in serious condition but later upgraded to “stable” condition.
“During and after the storm, we responded all over town for large trees down, wires down, blown transformers, power outages, people stuck in elevators, vehicle fires, traffic accidents, fire alarms and ambulance calls,” Wax said in an email.