Nearly all municipalities in Lake County experienced downed trees and power outages Tuesday night in what officials in one community called a microburst, and some towns — like Fox Lake — had a second round of storm-related damage and outages Wednesday morning.
Laura Linehan, Fox Lake’s assistant village administrator, said power went out between 7:30 and 8:30 p.m. Tuesday and was generally restored later that evening.
But a second storm hit midmorning Wednesday taking out power in parts of the village, she said, including portions of the Route 12 business corridor which was back on by approximately 1 p.m.
Some homes and critical infrastructure were still without electricity late Wednesday afternoon.
“Our dedicated staff continues to work toward making the village’s critical infrastructure operational for our residents,” she said. “We understand the challenges these types of storms bring to our area, and are working diligently to clean up storm damage as quickly as possible.”
Damage throughout the county was widespread, according to information provided by the Lake County sheriff’s office in an email. Deputies responded to approximately 100 weather-related calls for service, mainly about downed power lines and trees fallen across roadways.
“Unlike many storms, these storm-related calls were countywide, and not confined to specific areas,” Lt. Chris Covelli, the sheriff office’s public information officer, said.
Representatives of the Lake County Emergency Management Agency said in an email almost all municipalities within the county reported power outages and fallen trees.
The county itself lost power or needed emergency generators at its buildings south of Washington Street in downtown Waukegan. Alex Carr, the county’s deputy communications officer, said in an email they included the court tower, sheriff’s office and others. Power was restored by 9 a.m. Wednesday.
Approximately 1,800 Commonwealth Edison customers lost power in Highland Park, according to an email from the city. Some may not be restored until 3 p.m. Friday.
Trees were down along Sheridan Road in Lake Forest and Lake Bluff Tuesday night, and three stoplights were not working. One at Sheridan and Wesley Road was still not operating early Wednesday afternoon with a stop sign attached to the light poles to control traffic.
Marco Azucena, a Commonwealth Edison spokesperson, said approximately 290,00 customers in its service area lost power Tuesday night, and more than 240,000 were restored by early Wednesday afternoon. He did not know precise numbers in Lake County.
