On July 15, 2024, a tornado swept through Flossmoor and Homewood causing mass destruction among its trees. Even now, over a year later, recovery for the lost trees is still in progress.
Indian Trails Park in Homewood’s Southgate neighborhood was hit the hardest with numerous trees uprooted. It took the park crew about two weeks to clean up the aftermath. According to Homewood-Flossmoor Park District Executive Director Doug Boehm, about 17 mature trees in the park were downed.
On Arbor Day, April 25, several trees were planted at the park by students from Willow and Churchill schools and a Girl Scout troop, Boehm said.
“At this point, the recovery work has been completed. As the trees grow, the canopy will take shape,” Boehm said. “The work they did was amazing and looks great.”
Flossmoor Arborist Dave Becker said approximately 12 trees were lost in the storm, including maples, lindens, black locust and elm.
“Hundreds of trees were pruned to remove broken and damaged branches,” Becker wrote in an email to the Chronicle.
Despite all the damage, Becker reports that the recovery for Flossmoor is currently going well, especially with the help of the village’s tree planting program. Some trees were replaced in fall 2024, he said.
As for this fall’s tree planting, Flossmoor has already received numerous requests from residents for parkway trees.
Residents can also help restore the canopy by planting trees on their property, and they don’t need to be big ones. Small trees can be more cost efficient, plus they grow at a faster rate. The key is to plant different species, Becker said.
Bryon Doerr, Homewood’s arborist, said that the village lost approximately 23 trees from the tornado, mostly silver maples and elms. The area east of Willow School got hit the hardest, he said.
The tornado actually assisted Doerr and his team with getting rid of some silver maples that he said are in decline. He estimates there were about 5,000 of the trees on village parkways, but about half of them are down now.
“We’re a little behind,” Doerr said, adding, “our reforestation rate is different than our removal rate.”
“We do fill in neighborhoods at a time. There are neighborhoods that are a little farther behind than others. We are well aware of that,” Doerr said.
Overall, Homewood’s tree recovery is still a work in progress. Residents who ordered trees through the village’s cost-sharing program picked up trees Sept. 13.
“All we ask from the residents when we reforested is maybe just a couple buckets of water a couple days a week. We will take care of everything else,” Doerr said.
