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Post-derecho open thread

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Illinois

* How do things look by you?

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Aug 11, 20 @ 9:08 am

Comments

I was hoping the derecho would knock down some dead branches hovering over my yard. No such luck. Yet some neighbor down the street had his car demolished by the trunk of a young tree. Go figure.

Comment by Da Big Bad Wolf Tuesday, Aug 11, 20 @ 9:15 am
Lombard looked bad last night and today when passing through on the way to work. Lots of downed trees, and half the stoplights were out, including St. Charles Rd and Route 83.

Comment by DuPage Guy Tuesday, Aug 11, 20 @ 9:15 am
We lost an 8″ branch of a honey locust tree. Neighbor across the street has a section of parkway tree down. Could have been worse.

Comment by bogey golfer Tuesday, Aug 11, 20 @ 9:24 am
Lots of downed, older trees. One fell on our neighbors car, which took out their back windows.

Next door neighbor didn’t fully take down a dead tree last year. Nature helped him out yesterday, but it cost him a fence.

Comment by ChrisB Tuesday, Aug 11, 20 @ 9:28 am
Old neighborhood, every street has a big tree or more down. Lots of chain saws running late last night and early this morning. Few crunched cars, everyone is sfe.

Comment by Swampy Corn Tuesday, Aug 11, 20 @ 9:28 am
Scary for a short time, getting the tornado/severe storm warnings for the area. But it was short-lived, without much rain or damage. Very windy for a minute, with small parts of trees blowing down the sidewalk.

Comment by Grandson of Man Tuesday, Aug 11, 20 @ 9:31 am
The sounds of generators running all over the suburbs drowned out the normal cicada chorus.

Comment by Frank talks Tuesday, Aug 11, 20 @ 9:33 am
North side of the city, branches everywhere, every block has a few 6”-12” branches down, full trees down here and there with some smashed cars and tippled motorcycles. A friend was driving through the Rogers Park tornado and had the back window of his car blown out. Everyone seems safe and good thougg

Comment by Joe Bidenopolous Tuesday, Aug 11, 20 @ 9:40 am
South Suburb (Riverdale/Dolton). Power out since about 4:30pm. South Holland about 70% have no power per; Riverdale 35% per ComEd. Multiple radio calls of downed wires, transformers blowing, and at least one pole sheared off its base before lost power to scanner. Sun out now, dry, warming up. Emptied fridge and freezer, about $20 loss. Roof still on, house intact, car intact. Let’s be careful out there around utility crews in traffic.

Comment by revvedup Tuesday, Aug 11, 20 @ 9:54 am
Tornado sirens here in ole Kendall County but happy to report a few trees damaged, patio furniture scattered, not seeing any severe damage close to me.

Still, the sky, and wind, it was the real deal out here.

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Aug 11, 20 @ 9:55 am
Some hail but all in all not bad, helps the city came out about a week or two ago and trimmed the trees

Comment by OneMan Tuesday, Aug 11, 20 @ 10:19 am
Lost power for about an hour and a half, but otherwise no real damage. All trees on our block unscathed. Happy to be one of the lucky ones

Comment by Sox Fan Tuesday, Aug 11, 20 @ 10:30 am
For as dark as the sky got and some of the loud thunder and wind I thought we were in for something bad. The radio was talking about 60 mile an hour winds and some places getting 100 mile an hour winds. We lost a little branch and got enough rain to water the plants. I’m glad no damage, but it looked scary for awhile.

Comment by Club J Tuesday, Aug 11, 20 @ 10:30 am
Where is Jack Lavin with all of the outrage on behalf of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce ? Jerry Roper (RIP) would have been front and center.

Comment by Helm Tuesday, Aug 11, 20 @ 10:31 am
I’m on the south side, right by the lake, and when I went out this morning, I saw very little damage. Some smaller branches down in the nearby park, but that was about it.

However, I was on a Zoom meeting yesterday afternoon with people from around the state, and we had to cut the meeting short when folks started getting tornado warnings.

Comment by JoanP Tuesday, Aug 11, 20 @ 10:32 am
According to the mayor last night, no serious damage occurred in DeKalb, though the sirens had sounded for a while. Neighbor’s trampoline got flipped and all the tall plants in the yard (milkweed, sweet corn, sunflowers) went alarmingly horizontal, though we lost very little. Washed lots of small debris from the deck this morning.

Comment by yinn Tuesday, Aug 11, 20 @ 10:38 am
Second hand reports …

Friends in the Quad Cities luckily had only minor damage, but their neighbors had more from trees. Been running their 2 generators ever since. Haven’t heard this morning but suspect he is out cutting up tree limbs at the neighbors.

I’m a bit of an expert on some post WW II historic pre-fab homes. Talked to a lady in Iowa who lost a small part of her roof to the storm, and gave her a couple of guidelines / suggestions on repairing it. Luckily she managed to track down the pieces that can’t be replaced.

While I was on the phone with her, I was parked at a store in Decatur. The weakened storm that came through while I was on the phone had my car rocking like crazy. My wife commented the last time a car rocked like that was the day we visited Meteor Crater and the rim was closed due to high winds. It was bad enough we decided to stop in at friends there and wait out the storm.

Comment by RNUG Tuesday, Aug 11, 20 @ 10:43 am
Still no power in spotty areas NW Chicago.

What’s Jack Lavin supposed to be complaining about?

Comment by Original Rambler Tuesday, Aug 11, 20 @ 10:48 am
I’m glad we took down a very old, very hollow tree in April. It would have fallen on the barn and/or garage. Thankful it’s just a few branches to clean up.

Comment by Dog Lover Tuesday, Aug 11, 20 @ 10:54 am
The National Weather Service is saying that a tornado touched down in Rogers Park, went out over the lake and became a waterspout.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/weather/ct-chicago-weather-tornado-rogers-park-derecho-waterspout-20200811-xgdmvq7nrja4jcjizym66bj6xi-story.html

Comment by JoanP Tuesday, Aug 11, 20 @ 11:04 am
Sirens went off in Palatine last night. In W. Palatine, power went out (back later that evening). In E. Palatine, nothing but a bunch of smallish branches on the ground. Didn’t even take out the foam core sign sticking in the ground on a couple of flimsy metal stakes.

Comment by Wally Tuesday, Aug 11, 20 @ 11:16 am
I-55 corridor Southwestern burbs lots of large branches down, not to many trees that I’ve seen. Wind was serious for about 40 mins.

Comment by NorthsideNoMore Tuesday, Aug 11, 20 @ 11:20 am
North central Illinois still has a massive power outage. The ComEd outage map is quite sobering. My area also lost phone/cell service into the late evening.

I live in the country, so no water until the power comes back on. Have a generator for the fridge, freezer, and to power the tech, but not enough juice for the well and associated purification equipment.

We’ve lived here for over twenty years and the longest outage we’ve had was 28 hours (ice storm in 2018). I think this will beat that record.

Comment by Pot calling kettle Tuesday, Aug 11, 20 @ 11:21 am
We have an old neighborhood with big oaks. Lot of downed branches and leaves but no big trees down in our immediate area. The wind was incredible and the rain is welcome. Plant oaks if you are replacing trees. They support hundreds of different animals and insects.

Comment by Froganon Tuesday, Aug 11, 20 @ 11:21 am
Spent the morning cleaning up the remnants of my favorite maple tree. Evening shade is now a thing of the past for me.

Comment by Ducky LaMoore Tuesday, Aug 11, 20 @ 11:22 am
Large branches down on every street. No sign of ComEd but Chicago Streets and San forestry was out early. I’m off to buy gas to refill the generator. Needless to say, I am not working from home today, but surfing friend’s houses where I can get cell and internet service.

Comment by Mary Margaret Tuesday, Aug 11, 20 @ 11:24 am
My neighborhood in RI Co is doing well. A lot of weak trees were taken out in the 2013 and 2009 derechos. However, our breezeway back wall bowed out and the storm door was shattered. No power, water conservation order, maybe for a few days. Got through to insurance but the contractor’s number has been busy all day.

Comment by RIJ Tuesday, Aug 11, 20 @ 1:04 pm
This experience shows the Importance of the internet and animated radar in giving advance warning. A neighbor has no internet and was so glad I was able to warn him.

Comment by Old Illini Tuesday, Aug 11, 20 @ 3:30 pm