Storm, outages force closure of ECC, disruptions
Tuesday's high winds closed both campuses of Elgin Community College much of the day, destroyed barns in the countryside and knocked out power in the Fox Valley.
Heidi Healy, a spokeswoman for ECC, said the closures affected all classes, including evening sessions, programs, activities, rehearsals and community rentals at the main campus on Spartan Drive and the Fountain Square campus in downtown Elgin.
“When the college learned there were 50,000 to 60,000 ComEd customers without power in the area, the college decided the best course of action was to close the campus for the day,” Healy said.
The announcement shortly after power went out about 10 a.m. caused a traffic jam on campus as faculty, staffers and students tried to leave en masse, Healy said.
Heavy winds were expected to continue through Wednesday morning, with possible gusts as strong as 60 mph. The initial storm blew through the Chicago area between 6 and 8 a.m. Tuesday, causing damage throughout Cook, Lake, DuPage and Kane counties.
A barn in Elburn burned to the ground after strong winds blew a power line over, sparking the blaze, fire officials said.
The barn behind a farmhouse at 42W733 Route 38, between Pouley Road and Anderson Road, was up in flames at approximately 4:40 p.m.
Fire officials said power lines that were attached to the barn shorted out after the electric pole was blown over. There was nothing in the barn, but the building was at a total loss after wind-fueled flames engulfed it, Elburn Fire Chief Kelly Callaghan said.
“The wind just got it going that much bigger,” Callaghan said. “The old barns just burn really really fast.”
Callaghan said a small storage building to the north of the barn was also damaged in the fire, but was not destroyed.
Fire crews from Elburn, Batavia, Pingree Grove, Kaneville, Countryside and Sugar Grove assisted in the response. No one was injured during the fire, which was under control within an hour, Callaghan said.
Two miles northwest of Elburn, the National Weather Service reported a tornado touched down, destroying two barns and a grain bin while blowing debris more than a quarter-mile away.
The EF 1-rated twister's path stretch about three-quarters of a mile long and 50 yards wide as it also snapped a farmstead's pole at the base and damaged two farmsteads nearby, according to the National Weather Service.
ComEd officials reported about 59,000 customers were without power across the region at 9 a.m. They said the western region was the hardest-hit area, with more than 27,000 customers without power.
Three Elgin Area School District U-46 schools were without power for a while Tuesday morning at the height of the wind storms.
At Willard Elementary School in South Elgin, downed trees in the neighborhood led to the power outage. Huff Elementary School on Hastings Street in Elgin and Wayne Elementary in Wayne also were without power.
U-46 spokesman Tony Sanders said that as of 9:40 a.m., all schools either had power restored or were running on generators.
A tree limb fell on a transformer Tuesday morning near Lowrie Elementary School, 264 Oak St., on Elgin's west side, but power was not lost, Sanders said.
In the southern Fox Valley, storm sirens were heard in Geneva, Batavia and Aurora, but damage and disruptions did not appear to be as severe.
In Batavia, there was no major damage during the morning storm, public works Director Gary Holm said. He said the city repaired one electrical line that was knocked down at Park and Lathem streets on the city's northeast side.
St. Charles Electric Manager Glynn Amburgey said a tree limb fell on an electrical fuse line about 7:30 a.m., knocking out power to about 20 to 30 customers in the area of Sixth Avenue south of Route 64. Power was restored about 25 minutes later, he said.
“It was very severe winds, but we were able to withstand it,” Amburgey said.
#376; Daily Herald staff writers Susan Sarkauskas and Josh Stockinger contributed to this story.