Severe thunderstorm with 90 mph winds strikes the suburbs, power outages affect thousands

Winds exceeding 90 mph hit some areas of the suburbs as a thunderstorm passed through mid-Tuesday morning.

The National Weather Service office in Romeoville has not yet confirmed tornadoes were present, but “there were likely some tornadoes embedded” in the strong line of winds, meteorologist Kevin Donofrio said.

Tornado determinations won’t be made until the NWS has a chance to survey damage reports. Teams were headed out early Tuesday afternoon to check in several areas, primarily in Will County and south Cook County, as well as northwest Indiana, NWS meteorologist Scott Baker said.

Tornado sirens sounded across the region, including in Geneva and Batavia. Operations at the Kane County Judicial Center in St. Charles were temporarily suspended, with people seeking shelter in the lower level. The Kane County Board meeting was recessed when the building lost electricity.

Court operations at the DuPage County Judicial Center in Wheaton also were disrupted, with people taking shelter in the basement.

As of late Tuesday afternoon, about 236,000 ComEd customers in Cook, Lake, Kane, DuPage and Will counties were without power, the utility reported. Will County was particularly hard hit, with ComEd reporting that 34% still did not have power Tuesday afternoon.

Parts of eastern Batavia, which has its own electrical utility, were expected to remain without power until Tuesday evening.

One to 2 inches of rain fell, according to the weather service. The Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network reported 1.56 inches in Plainfield, 1.33 inches in Aurora and 2.21 inches in Park Forest.

Some towns, including Downers Grove and Glendale Heights, reported tree damage, blocked roads and localized flooding. In Wheaton, there was standing water on Main Street.

“There were a lot of trees and wires down — thoroughly normal stuff,” said Scott Buziecki, director of Kane County’s Office of Emergency Management.

“It was a fairly good punch,” but nowhere near as damaging as the storms that happened around July 4, he said. “This is fairly run of the mill.”

ssarkauskas@dailyherald.com