Thousands of trees, gone?

It was a grim weekend for tree huggers in the Northwest suburbs.

By the time all the brush has been cleared and the trees inspected, the area will easily have lost hundreds -- maybe thousands -- of trees.

In Mount Prospect, conservatively 200 parkway trees have been cut down or will need to be, and another 1,500 are counted as damaged. In Des Plaines, city officials fear as many as 600 parkway trees may have to be destroyed.

Neither figure takes into account the damage done to private trees.

Thursday's storm tore through stretches of Mount Prospect, Des Plaines, Schaumburg and Elk Grove Village like a gigantic chain saw. Mature trees, some of them torn out by the roots, toppled onto sidewalks and streets, crashed into cars and fences, and wrapped themselves in power lines.

In Mount Prospect, where officials estimate the storm caused more tree damage than any other storm in the past 30 years, crews began removing the debris from both public and private trees.

On Monday morning, Forestry/Grounds Superintendent Sandy Clark said village arborists had surveyed about 75 percent of the village's trees, recording more than 1,500 damaged trees.

Of the 24,000 parkway trees, Clark said more than 200 trees were destroyed, but she warned, "There are going to be way more than that."

The worst area, she said, is the one bordered by Weller Creek, Route 83, Golf Road and Busse Road.

"At least 100 trees in that neighborhood will have to be cut down," she said.

In Des Plaines, Acting Assistant Public Works Director Tim Watkins said "it's the worst I've seen in my 14 years" with the city.

Watkins said that by the time the final count is taken, the city may wind up losing 600 to 650 of the city's 60,000 parkway trees.

He said the north end of town is the hardest hit. The city is taking the debris to two sites, the public works facility and another site on Central Road.

"Once we get the bulk of them there, we will be doing a mass grinding," he said.

Getting the debris removed from the parkway is a priority, in order to make way for household waste from flooded basements, Watkins said.

He said the cost of removing and replacing the trees could encroach the half million dollar mark.

"We got hit pretty hard," said Elk Grove Village Public Works Director Thomas Cech, who said the village lost at least 100 trees and had hundreds more damaged. "It's going to be a little more time before we can get an accurate assessment on how much we have lost."

The remains will be taken to the village's public works yards for chipping.

In Schaumburg, an estimated 50 parkway trees will probably be lost because of the storm.

And in Arlington Heights, Public Works Director Scott Shirley said, "We were spared, comparatively speaking," with a loss of only about 30 to 40 trees.

Shirley said the village was hit a little bit harder south of Golf Road, which he said was consistent with damage in surrounding areas.

"The wind was much more intense through that corridor," cutting a swath stretching from Elgin to Wilmette, he said.

Shirley said the village hopes to have all the public trees secured and/or removed by the end of the week. The village will not be picking up private trees.

In Mount Prospect, all species were affected, Clark said, including a surprising number of honey locusts.

"Once you exceed a certain wind speed, all bets are off," she said.

Another contributing factor was the fact that soils were saturated by heavy rains. Clark said tree roots in northeastern Illinois don't grow that deeply.

"When the soil is saturated, it is a lot easier to push trees over," she said.

Some areas also lost silver maples, which most towns, including Mount Prospect, do not currently plant.

Mount Prospect crews were supplemented by work crews from R.W. Hendricksen Co., Kramer Tree Experts and Powell Tree Care. Four additional brush chippers have also been rented to speed up the cleanup process.

In addition, crews from the City of Prospect Heights and Cowhey and Associates have also aided in the effort.

Clark said she expects grapple trucks to begin picking up piles of brush today and hauling them to Melas Park. She said she expects a tub grinder to eat into those piles next week.