Strong winds, fast downpour create havoc

Two lines of severe thunderstorms ripped through the Tri-Cities late Thursday afternoon and early evening, leaving behind a mess of downed power lines, tree limbs and flooding.

Batavia and Geneva were hit the hardest, according to Tri-Com Central Dispatch, which handled about 150 emergency calls from Batavia, Elburn, Geneva and St. Charles in less than an hour.

Strong winds tore the roof off an elevator shaft at Geneva's Herrington Inn & Spa, and lightning hit at least two central Kane County houses.

Elsewhere, firefighters and police were busy with flooding roads, power outages, burglar alarms, felled trees and traffic backups.

"We had more calls at any one time than I can recall,"ˆť said Tri-Com Director Jerry Bleck, a 35-year employee. "It was really a horrendous wind and rain that came down."ˆť

End-of-day bus rides were delayed in Geneva, St. Charles and Kaneland school districts after the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning. Some after-school activities Thursday also were canceled.

Authorities reported no serious injuries across the area.

The storms first hit about 3 p.m. after moving at 45 mph from the west, according to the weather service. Another round attacked about 5:30 p.m.

The Kane County Office of Emergency Management recorded 1.04 inches of rain within an hour at the office's Geneva headquarters during the first series of storms.

ComEd had 186,000 customers in the Chicago area without power Thursday evening. Twelve thousand of those customers were in the company's western region, which includes Kane County all the way west to the state line, a spokesman said.

Officials in Geneva, Batavia and St. Charles had no precise estimates of power outages Thursday evening but said they were working to restore areas of each community.

Tornado warnings and funnel cloud sightings prompted municipal employees to seek basement shelter at places such as St. Charles City Hall and the Kane County Government Center in Geneva.

In the St. Charles shelter, about 40 people huddled around televisions to watch the Weather Channel, while the Fox River flooded onto an east-shore walkway outside.

Jeff Glaser, director of Batavia Emergency Services and Disaster Agency, said the flooding covered up the Fox River islands. "There's been trees down and wires down; they've been sparking and bouncing,"ˆť Glaser said.

Meanwhile, Roger Rock, who lives on the 1200 block of Fargo Boulevard in Geneva, watched his neighborhood get pummeled by what he thinks might have been a microburst.

"Everything came straight down in an instant,"ˆť he said.

The 42-year-old was watching the storm from inside the garage of the house, where he lives with his parents, who are in their 80s.

"Things all snapped at one time. Our yard is thankfully OK. But the neighbors to the north and east lost all their front-yard trees,"ˆť he said.

Rock said some of the evergreen trees in the neighborhood date back from when Col. Fabyan owned the land in the early part of the 20th century. The Rock house lost power briefly. Neighbors to the east were still without power as of 5 p.m., as falling trees and branches took down power lines.

The Elgin Kennel Club also felt Mother Nature's bite.

The club had set up five tents -- the largest measuring 200 by 60 feet -- for an all-breed dog show Saturday and Sunday at the south end of the Kane County Fairgrounds on Randall Road. But the storm ripped apart and knocked down all five tents.

Winds pulled four-foot-long stakes out of the ground and exploded the blue-and-white tents from the inside out.

"They just came apart at the seams. All the stakes moved in unison,"ˆť said Peggy Haas, a Montgomery woman who is co-chair of the show.

Her husband, Bill, the club president, said the wind tossed around large metal barrels, denting his car.

"I dodged one, but another hit the side of my car, ť he said. “They were bouncing."ˆť

One worker in his 30s who was helping erect the tents injured his leg.

Organizers vowed to have the show and its 900 furry contestants despite the damage. "With or without tents, we're going to have the show,":ˆť said Chuck Nelson, club vice president.

At the Kane County Sheriff's Department on Fabyan Parkway in Geneva, the storm took down a vegetable stand run by female inmates to benefit charities, said Lt. Pat Gengler. Whether the sale will go on is unknown.

"It may have to be completely rebuilt,"ˆť Gengler said of the stand.

Sheriff's department employees also got a brief scare during the storm when they heard a "popping" sound coming from a hallway ceiling outside the 911 center.

Fearing that water could have entered the ceiling and meshed with electrical wires, they called the Geneva and Batavia fire departments.

"Everything is all clear. We didn't have to evacuate,"ˆť Gengler said. "We didn't have to shut down."ˆť

The Geneva Fire Department sent two engine companies to the Fargo Boulevard neighborhood for door-to-door inspections, because of the extensive tree damage, Lt. John Stoffa said.

There were a few transformer fires, and another transformer along Route 31 in St. Charles was knocked out temporarily, police spokesman Paul McCurtain said.

While many communities were scrambling to recover from the first storm, it just missed North Aurora, where firefighters turned their attention to helping nearby towns.

"We didn't have a single call,"ˆť Chief Steve Miller said.

Daily Herald staff writers Leslie Hague, Harry Hitzeman, Lisa Smith and Susan Sarkauskas contributed to this story.