Tornado hit Schaumburg and Roselle areas Monday, weather service says
Amid widespread storm damage - including from a tornado - and an extreme-heat warning, several suburbs are looking at multiday cleanups and power outages that could last into Wednesday afternoon.
The National Weather Service reported Tuesday evening that Monday's storms included a tornado that touched down and traveled 2.2 miles from Schaumburg Township to Roselle.
The tornado was rated EF-0, with estimated peak winds of 80 mph, the weather service said in a preliminary report that it said it'd detail more on Wednesday. The tornado was up to 25 yards wide as it moved from 6:27 to 6:32 p.m.
The weather service said the tornado's damage was all to trees, but it noted it "was flanked on its western side by a swath of severe straight-line winds" that created damage at Schaumburg Regional Airport, where planes were moved and flipped.
The weather service also said winds in the suburbs hit has high as 95 mph, with the worst damage created in Streamwood, Schaumburg, Roselle, Bellwood, Westchester, Riverside and Brookfield.
The storm formed east of Rockford before moving through Kane, McHenry and Cook counties and into Indiana.
Meanwhile, the temperature Tuesday at Midway International Airport reached 100 degrees for the first time since 2012, the weather service reported Tuesday afternoon. High humidity had pushed heat indexes past 100 degrees in several areas throughout the day.
The heat wave sweeping across the region this week is in line with predictions that extremely warm days will only continue to increase in Illinois. In the last century, the average daily temperature in the state increased by 1-2 degrees, a recent study found.
The weather service sent survey teams into the Streamwood and Roselle areas Tuesday morning to assess damage and determine whether there had been tornadic activity. The municipalities are two of many throughout Cook and DuPage counties to lose power in the storm's wake.
The storm caused outages affecting approximately 125,000 customers, ComEd said in a statement. The agency said Tuesday night that more than 900 crews were still working to return power to about 7,500 customers.
Spokesperson Shannon Breymaier said ComEd exceeded its goal of restoring power to at least 80% of outages Tuesday, though remaining outages were expected to last until around 3 p.m. Wednesday.
The company is making cooling buses and care vans available to the hardest-hit communities in Westchester, North Riverside, La Grange Park, Lyons and Roselle.
Roselle officials warned residents to give downed power outages a wide berth, as the lines can carry strong electric currents. In Elmhurst, where nearly 400 residents lost power, officials recommended that any resident who sees trees tangled in power lines or exposed power lines dial 911 and stay away from the area.
The storm hit just ahead of Roselle's 7 p.m. village board meeting Monday. As leaders who had gathered at village hall for the meeting witnessed the sky darken and winds speed up, they quickly called off the gathering and headed downstairs.
"We were able to get a war room going immediately in the basement and mobilize our public works, police and fire department, and our volunteers very quickly," Mayor David Pileski said.
By 9 p.m., the group of village officials had called in aid from neighboring communities. Crews from Algonquin, Buffalo Grove, Batavia and other municipalities were out on the roads alongside Roselle's public works Department to clean up the damage Tuesday morning.
"We try to make sure if we can support an incident on our own, we do, but the damage is just so dense and large as far as the growth that was down," Pileski said. "We've got quite a lot of cleanup ahead of us still, but we're making a lot of great progress due to the quick mobilization."
Cleanup is expected to take three to five days in Roselle, Pileski said. The village of Streamwood is similarly anticipating up to a week of cleanup.
Weather and town officials are encouraging residents to stay in air-conditioned environments whenever possible until the extreme-heat warning that has enveloped most of the state ends Wednesday at 8 p.m.
Officials warned that people should minimize time outside this week as "heat-related illnesses may develop in fewer than 30 minutes after strenuous outdoor activity," the Chicago National Weather Service wrote on its Twitter account.
Roselle cooling centers include the Roselle Public Library, village hall and the Roselle police and fire stations. In Streamwood, designated centers are the Streamwood Police Department and Hanover Township building.
Cooling centers are also available throughout the suburbs and the state; residents can check their town and county websites for specific locations.
Those without access to air conditioning can use fans and cold, damp cloths to cool down, said Dr. Trevor Lewis, chair of emergency medicine at Cook County Health. For quick relief, residents can even take cool showers or baths, Lewis said.
Older residents are especially vulnerable to the heat, and Lewis urged people to check on their friends, neighbors and relatives for signs of heat stress or heat stroke.
• Jenny Whidden is a climate change and environment writer working with the Daily Herald through a partnership with Report For America. To contribute to the costs of the project, see https://www.reportforamerica.org/newsrooms/daily-herald-4/.