All eyes on river after storm passes

An early morning storm packing powerful winds Friday downed trees and power lines in towns along the Fox River, which threatens to overflow its banks in the coming days.

Crews in Carpentersville began clearing downed trees and limbs just after midnight.

Street Superintendent Jack Clifton said significant tree damage was centered in the Old Town area of the village.

"I have the entire crew out there working," Clifton said Friday morning. "I got the first call at about 12:45 a.m. and have been working ever since."

Fallen limbs downed power lines, causing as many as 1,100 homes in the village to lose power, officials said.

About 375 of those homes remained without power Friday afternoon.

Carpentersville's power problems paled in comparison to Crystal Lake, which was hit with 50 mph winds, said Joe Trost, a spokesman for ComEd.

About 2,300 residents lost power in the storm and were reconnected by 3 p.m. Friday.

In all, ComEd restored power to about 85,000 customers across northern Illinois by 5 p.m. Friday, while another 4,500 were still without power.

The storm set off Crystal Lake's tornado sirens at about 1 a.m. and snapped small trees in the northeastern part of the city, said Tom Rigwood, street division superintendent.

While no tornado touched down, Rigwood said felled trees and limbs caused minor exterior damage to four houses in the area near village hall.

Power outages also forced officials at Community Unit District 300 to cancel afternoon kindergarten at Golfview Elementary School in Carpentersville.

Dundee-Crown High School and Oak Ridge Elementary School lost power during the storm. Power was restored to both schools at 8:30 a.m., District 300 officials said in a news release.

The Dundee Township Boys and Girls Club in Carpentersville also canceled after-school activities.

Despite damaging winds and reports of hail near Hampshire, local officials reported only minor incidents of flooding.

The main source of worry in the area, the Fox River, should remain stable through the weekend, authorities said.

The critical point will be when the river crests, which is expected to happen Wednesday.

In the meantime, Cornish Park at Algonquin Road and South Harrison Street in Algonquin remained closed Friday due to high water levels on the Fox River.

The park likely will remain closed through next week, said Bob Mitchard, Algonquin's director of public works.

Joe Cavallaro, village manager in West Dundee, said though the Riverwalk was underwater, no flooding was reported on village streets or residences.

"The damage was minimal," Cavallaro said. "There were a few branches down but no large trees."

Similar reports of minor damage were also reported in East Dundee and Lake in the Hills, which was still recovering from Monday's storm.

"We had limbs down and power outages, but we came away relatively unscathed," Director of Public Works T.J Moore said.