Buffalo Grove trying to keep roads clear

Two new Buffalo Grove residents came into the world at the height of the storm, blissfully unaware of the chaos raging around them — or even the state of roads as their moms were raced to the hospital.

Buffalo Grove Village Manager Dane Bragg related the saga of the newborns Wednesday morning, as he assessed the last 18 hours in the village.

“We have been dealing mostly with snow removal, obviously,” he said, adding the village is still just trying to keep village streets passable, and that full street plowing isn't happening yet.

“The main focus we have right now is to keep passage lanes open; we're not doing a lot of curb-to-curb plowing right now,” Bragg said.

Cleaning the snow out of out intersections, keeping neighborhoods accessible and assessing where the power is out are the main issues now.

The police department dealt with about 40 drivers who got stranded in their vehicles overnight, Bragg said.

“We have some areas (with) extended power outages, so we're trying to get those folks hooked up with other accommodations or make sure they are OK.” Power to the Columbian Gardens area has been on and off for 14 hours -- and at last word from the fire department at 5 p.m. Wednesday, power is still out. One person there has been relocated to a local hotel.

He said when the power went out at the Speedway gas station at Lake-Cook and Milwaukee, the workers couldn't get home.

“So they ended up coming to first the police department and then Village Hall,” Bragg said. “Since then, we have gotten them home. They didn't live in Buffalo Grove.”

He said they have gotten a lot of calls, asking police to check on neighbors and friends to make sure everything is OK.

Abandoned vehicles have been towed “to the nearest lot.” To find your vehicle, call police at (847) 459-2560.

Bragg also said they are warning residents to check high efficiency furnaces, or if they have drier ducts low to the ground, to check those.

“We have had a couple calls where the exhausts on the high efficiency furnaces have been blocked by snow, by the drifts,” he said. “It has caused the carbon monoxide level to rise.”

Buffalo Grove fire officials confirmed that there were two cases of snow blowers severing the middle fingers of their operators.

Buffalo Grove fire Battalion Chief Doug Postma said the incidents occurred on Carlyle Lane and Canterbury Lane. The one on Carlyle was Wednesday morning, and the one on Canterbury was Wednesday afternoon.

“Basically they were trying to unclog their chutes and they got their hands in the business part of the snowblower,” he said.

He added, “We often get one a year, but I think the volume of the snow and the type of snow it is lends itself to this type of injury.

“People are out there for a long time and get frustrated.”