Melissa Alvarez said she was holding her 3-month-old baby Thursday night when she heard heavy rain smacking against the window, like the window could break at any second.
She ran to another room, and that’s when the power went out and the toilets stopped working. Alvarez said she quickly checked on her elderly neighbors and found their windows were shattered, and the roofs were gone at her apartment off of 83rd Street and Roberts Road in Hickory Hills.
“It all happened very fast,” she said.
“We looked at it all with our neighbors this morning, and everyone was concurring, like, this looks like a tornado,” she said. “There’s insulation and roofing everywhere and a piece of wood looks like its stabbing a garage.”
She packed a bag Friday and evacuated with her family to her father’s house.
She said other neighbors left too, but she was worried not everyone had a place to go. She said several people who live in her building either have a disability or are elderly.
“I know they’re definitely not able to stay there,” she said. “I can’t imagine going through that sort of fear of a crisis not having a place to go back to. There are definitely a lot of people going through it right now.”
Throughout Palos Township and Hickory Hills Friday morning, streets were lined with downed trees and backed up with long lines of traffic due to broken stoplights. Many businesses were closed due to lack of electricity.
Marta Glod, who has lived in Palos Hills since 1999, said her power was out for 14 hours Wednesday night before flickering on Thursday morning, only to go out again Thursday afternoon.
Glod said she struggled with the heat in her house and could not afford purchasing a generator. She said her food in her fridge was spoiled and her gas stove stopped working, so her son started picking up takeout.
She said she experienced a lot of storms in Palos Hills since 1999, but she had never lost her power this long.
After trying and failing to find a coffee place that morning, she stopped by a neighbor’s house to borrow a power bank charger.
It’s Christmas here,” she said while walking up the steps and noting a fallen evergreen tree taking up her neighbor’s entire yard.
Her neighbor, Greg Benke, said he was sad to see the tree fallen when he returned from work Thursday night. He said would miss it after seeing it outside his living room window for 15 years, but was glad it did not fall on his or his neighbor’s roof.
“It was beautiful,” Benke said. “At this point I’m honestly clueless what to do next. I’m not sure where to start.”
Karyn Difoggio, with the Palos Township Highway Department, said her crews worked nonstop to clean up the fallen branches, and a lot of residents called about downed trees and lack of internet.
Difoggio said she hoped the branches across Palos Township would be cleared by late next week.
She also said her department contacted the Illinois Department of Transportation about the offline traffic lights but had not heard back, and she figured they were overwhelmed with need. She said traffic was not too bad that morning.
Palos Heights officials said about 95% of the city experienced power outages during Wednesday night’s storm, along with a substaintial number of fallen trees and large limbs.
“After making significant progress throughout the day, our community experienced a second round of storms last night that resulted in additional fallen tree limbs and debris,” city officials wrote in a statement Friday.
About half the city was still left without power Thursday morning, and officials urged residents to check on elderly family members, neighbors, and friends without power, internet access or reliable communication.
By Friday morning, power was restored to 85% of Palos Heights residents and businesses.
In Orland Park, the storms left 1,896 residents without power Friday morning, down from the peak of 6,230 residents without power, according to Mayor Jim Dodge.
One street was barricaded due to downed power lines, 143rd Place and Brook, said Dodge. Five traffic signals were also affected along 131st and LaGrange Road, 131st and Southwest Highway, 151st and Harlem Avenue, 143rd and Wolf Road and 153rd and West Avenue.
Dodge asked residents to avoid downed power lines, use caution when approaching work zones and only operate generators outdoors and away from windows to prevent carbon monoxide buildup.
He said public works crews worked to chip branches and clean debris from storm drains and keep water systems operating with three pump stations operating on backup.
Power outages also closed Cook County courthouses in Bridgeview and Markham for a second day, which many cases scheduled being moved to online or to the Leighton Criminal Courthouse at 2600 S. California Ave.,m Chicago.
The storms led the Lockport Chamber of Commerce to cancel the first night of its annual Old Canal Days festival, which includes a carnival, vendors and musical entertainment. A drone show was rescheduled to 9:15 p.m. Friday.
As of Friday morning, power was restored to 53% of Oak Lawn’s residences and businesses. Village Hall was closed, with power expected to return to the building on Raymond Avenue by Saturday afternoon, Mayor Terry Vorderer said.
He said by the time the village’s public works crews had cleaned up 95% of downed trees from storms on Thursday, more severe weather was rolling in. Vorderer asked residents to be patient as the village works to clean up debris.
“I am told that the storm last night actually created more power outages than the first storm,” Vorderer said Friday morning. “It’s a big storm, lots of lines down. You can only do so much in a day, you know.”
As conditions worsened Thursday night, police from Frankfort and neighboring departments along with hundreds of community volunteers were out searching for an 11-year-old boy with special needs who Frankfort police said went missing at 6 p.m. Thursday.
Police were notified the boy found unharmed at 7 a.m. Friday on Kluth Drive in Mokena, having found shelter about three miles away from the 10400 Block of Brookridge Creek Drive, where he was reported missing.
“The support shown throughout this incident was truly extraordinary,” Frankfort police Chief Leanne Chelepis said in a statement. “The willingness of so many people to come together and help reflects the compassion and strength of this community. We are thankful that Joey was found safe and reunited with his family.”
