South, southwest suburban Chicago residents clean up again second round of severe storm damage
JOLIET, Ill. (CBS) – The southwest suburbs were walloped by Monday night's fast-moving storms, just a day after parts of Joliet sustained significant damage from storms over the weekend.
Drivers found themselves needing to turn around on several streets in Joliet because of downed trees or a powerline blocking the roadway.
With their mother's permission, CBS News Chicago spoke to two sisters who were home when a tree damaged their house. Milani Edwards, 10, and Sa'Myah Brown, 11, were sleeping when a tree fell on their house, just above their bedroom.
"I was asleep and then like I just heard one big boom, and then I heard another big boom," Brown said. "So I ran downstairs, while my sister was still asleep. I just ran downstairs because I wasn't thinking about nothing."
Edwards said she thought the tree was going to fall into her room through the roof.
"I felt like my room was going to get broken and damaged and stuff," she said.
She added, "My mom's probably going to have to pay a lot of money to get it fixed."
A neighbor who didn't want to be on camera said the wind damaged their roof. A tree fell on another homeowner's garage.
On Woodlawn Avenue at St. Paul Apostle Catholic Church, members said the garage was destroyed. The inside of the structure was completely exposed.
The latest round of damage came just two days after strong storms damaged the Illinois Rock and Roll Museum and the Forge, a local music venue in downtown Joliet.
Power out, trees down in other south, southwest suburbs
The cleanup in southwest suburban Crestwood was also under way—bur doe the Carrs, it was a waiting game—as they still had no electricity nearly 24 hours after the storm.
"This is the first for me to be this long without power," said Chaquitta Carr.
They passed the time in their driveway, because it was too hot inside.
"We've just been chilling in the car, driving around," said son Austin Carr.
"It's the charging station, the cooling station. It's the eating station. That's just where we living right now," said Chaquitta Carr. "I said, 'Can you guys believe we're living in the car today?'"
They are like thousands of ComEd customers still in the dark as the heat rises.
"Realize we might have to sleep in the basement," said mom. "That's the only like maybe cool place to sleep."
Meanwhile on the Calumet Park-Chicago boundary, surveillance video captured a massive tree falling onto two homes on Vermont Street.
"And this tree is perfectly healthy," said Jasmine Braggs of the tree that came down. "There's nothing wrong with this tree. It was just pulled out from ground from the root."
The root itself stands taller than Braggs herself. She came home after the storms to find her neighbor's tree perched on her roof.
"You cannot play with Mother Nature," Briggs said. "No, you're not—you better not."
Briggs and her neighbors were thankful Tuesday that the damage was limited.
"It'll be good, but nobody was injured," she said. "They were just scared."
Over in Tinley Park, public works crews went to work moments after the storms. They spent much of the night and day clearing heavy limbs from roadways.
The big limbs and the wind were the very combination that was blamed for widespread power outages, with power lines coming down with the trees. ComEd said some customers could be without power until Friday.
