The National Weather Service in Chicago confirmed on Wednesday, July 17, that an EF-1 tornado producing winds of up to 100 mph traveled from Flossmoor, through Homewood and ended in Thornton on Monday, July 15.
The NWS storm survey is expected to be completed by the weekend. So far, NWS has confirmed 19 tornadoes formed throughout the region, including the one that hit H-F about 9:30 p.m. Monday. That’s in addition to six tornadoes confirmed on Sunday, July 14.
Cleanup from the storm continued Wednesday. Flossmoor Public Works Director John Brunke said all streets in the village were passable by Tuesday afternoon, but in Homewood, Willow Road was still closed Wednesday afternoon from Ashland Avenue west to Page Avenue. Downed trees and utility lines still blocked the street.
The Southgate and Governors Park neighborhoods appeared to be hardest hit in Homewood. Brunke said the worst hit areas in Flossmoor were the Heather Hill and Old Flossmoor neighborhoods.
Officials from both villages said no injuries were reported as a result of the storm.
The storm caused power outages throughout both villages. Flossmoor officials reported that ComEd was making progress, but power was still out for many residents and businesses on Wednesday.
In an update posted Wednesday on Facebook, officials said, “Nearly 2,500 locations in Flossmoor have been without power since Monday night’s storm. As of last night, ComEd had restored service to nearly 800 locations in our village and more have been restored overnight.”
In a second update Wednesday evening, Flossmoor officials said power had been restored to more than 74% of affected customers and ComEd estimated the rest should have power restored on Friday, July 19.
ComEd officials said Tuesday that initially about 430,000 customers were affected by power outages. As of 10 p.m. Wednesday, that number was down to 29,811.
Homewood village hall still was without power Wednesday, resulting in the cancellation of Parking and Compliance Court. Homewood officials said all court dates would be forwarded to the session at 5 p.m. Aug. 21. Anyone with questions should call the Homewood Police Department at 708-206-3420.
The power outage also contributed to the postponement of Homewood’s community art event, Gottschalk-the-Walk, which was scheduled for Sunday, July 21.
The storm has kept first responders and public works crews busy since Monday night. Most of the calls for the fire departments were for downed utility lines and other problems related to wind.
Homewood Assistant Fire Chief Steve DeJong reported crews went on 50 calls in the 12 hours after the storm hit. Flossmoor firefighters also were swamped. Assistant Fire Chief Matt Berk said the department had 39 calls in less than 24 hours, about 10 times the normal call volume.
Brunke and Homewood Public Works Director Joshua Burman both noted that wind caused most of the problems from the storm. Although the villages received an inch or two of rain, Brunke said it was spread out over time and didn’t cause much flash flooding.
Burman and Brunke said neither of the two local viaducts that are prone to flooding, Dixie Highway in Homewood and Flossmoor Road in Flossmoor, were closed by high water during the storm.
