Tree falls in Carol Stream mayor's backyard

There's one less oak tree on Tall Oaks Drive at the home of Carol Stream Mayor Frank Saverino.

An old oak fell in Saverino's backyard around 6:30 p.m. Sunday, damaging parts of a fence and some plantings but not causing any injuries. The mayor's daughter and wife were in the house at the time.

"Unfortunately, over the years, it looks like the ants and the squirrels decided to live in that tree and weaken the inside of the tree," Saverino said Monday. "And last night in the rainstorm that we had ... it took the tree down."

Saverino said he didn't see any insects in the oak when it fell, so "apparently they ate the inside of that tree up years ago."

The tree also was growing on an angle, he said, "so what happens is the weight of the oak tree can only take so much and then that's it."

Saverino and his son-in-law were on their way to a wake in Bloomingdale when he got a call from his wife.

"She called me on the phone and said, 'You're not gonna believe it; the tree just fell over in the yard," Saverino said.

The tree landed across Saverino's fence and rested in the pool area. Some of the wrought-iron fence was bent and broken, some greenery was damaged and some smaller yard objects were broken.

The tree was removed Monday morning. No one was injured, Saverino said, but one dead squirrel was found.

Saverino said the tree fell right on the spot where his grandchildren had been sitting on the Fourth of July.

"We always complain we never catch a break," he said. "Somebody's always sick, something happens, something goes wrong. Well, I consider this to be catching a break."