Storm cleanup continues in Chicago's south suburbs, residents still without power
HOMEWOOD, Ill. (CBS) – The cleanup from Monday's storms continued in the South Suburbs on Thursday, where hundreds of residents were still without power.
One of the hardest hit communities was Homewood, where at least one tornado was confirmed to have struck. Mayor Rich Hofeld told CBS News Chicago that he's never seen the kind of destruction that the village saw this week, when a confirmed EF-1 tornado came barreling into town.
Drone footage showed the mess the tornado left along Willow and Marshfield. There were downed trees as far as the eye could see.
One of the massive trees obstructed traffic along a roadway.
"They actually have made a lot of progress," said homeowner Sandy Sanders, standing amid several downed tree branches. "I know it doesn't look like it, but they made a lot of progress in terms of clearing the trees and they said once they're able to clear the trees off of the wires then the electric crews will be able to come in."
Crews were working around the clock to clean it up. As bad as it looked, Homewood officials said it could have been a whole lot worse. Thankfully, there were no reports of fatalities or injuries.
Still, there were widespread power outages. The utility company ComEd said its priority has been critical sites like hospitals, first responder units and facilities housing elderly residents.
The goal is to get about 80% of customers back up and running by next Wednesday and then all customers back with power by that Friday.
The cleanup itself, has been another story.
"We're looking at probably the next week, two weeks for a full cleanup," said Josh Burman, Homewood's director of public works. "It might go a little bit longer."
Homewood officials were planning a community cleanup day where public works will provide dumpsters to haul a bulk of the debris out of town. That's likely happening next week.