Homewood-Flossmoor Park District crews have begun the cleanup of Indian Trail Park, but it will be a slow process.
Crews got a first look at the park about 5:30 a.m. Tuesday, just hours after a violent thunderstorm tore through the Southgate area of Homewood. Doug Boehm, executive director of the park district, estimated 18 to 20 mature trees in the park at Willow and Riegel Roads were taken down by the high winds.
“How do you value a 30-year-old tree?” he wondered.
Boehm told the park board members it will take workers at least two weeks to clean up the park, “besides everything else that they’re doing.” The park district has limited pieces of equipment. It can’t borrow from the villages of Flossmoor and Homewood because their crews are busy with their own cleanup operations.
The park district employees faced other problems as well.
Without power, the refrigeration system at the H-F Ice Arena was inoperable and the ice in the smaller studio rink melted. Staff will be able to decide by Thursday morrning whether the ice will need to be replaced. If it does, crews will start the arduous process that requires making ice layer by layer and painting the lines for the hockey teams that practice on the smaller rink.
The larger rink was still solid ice when power was back on.
Lions Club Pool opened, but the Splash Pad at Millennium Park was still down Wednesday.
Tom Denklau, Coyote Run Golf Course manager, said all 110 golfers made it onto the course Tuesday. He had a backup system he used for registrations.
“They all got out and were extremely happy,” he told park district board members at the July 16 meeting.
The bigger issue was Wiley’s Grill. Denklau was busy finding dry ice and trying to save food. He ordered box lunches from a carry-out restaurant for lunch and shifted dinner to the grills outside where staff made burgers, brats and hot dogs.
The village of Flossmoor lent Denklau a generator that was not in use. It will help with Wiley’s freezer, he said.
Irons Oaks Environmental Learning Center didn’t have power Tuesday, so summer camp activities got shifted to the H-F Racquet & Fitness Club.
Boehm and board members commended staff for their outstanding efforts working as a team.
He said the park district has insurance, but he’s not sure everything will be covered.
“What price do you put on a sheet of ice? I guess you could look at lost revenue,” he said. And there’s a question of whether the food at Wiley’s and the trees downed can be covered. Even if a claim is accepted, the park district will likely have to meet its insurance deductible first.