At least one Lake County home was severely damaged, two people sustained non-life-threatening injuries, dozens of trees came down and thousands lost power Monday afternoon as a storm with 65-mile-an-hour winds blew through area communities, local officials said based on early damage reports.
Dozens of trees were uprooted primarily in the northern and western portions of the county, Sgt. Chris Covelli, the public information officer for the Lake County Sheriff’s Department, said in an email. The department answered about 100 weather related-calls, Covelli said.
One tree fell and hit a house hear unincorporated Lake Villa causing severe structural damage. Another downed tree destroyed a vehicle near Lake Villa. Along with the trees, the storm took out power lines, causing power outages.
John Schoen, a spokesperson for Commonwealth Edison said approximately 15,000 customers were without power at 6 p.m.
A tree fell that fell in unincorporated Lake Villa left the homeowner with a minor injury, Covelli said.
Doug Slazes, the chief of the Lake Villa Fire Protection District, which serves Lake Villa, Lindenhurst and parts of unincorporated Lake County, said one person slipped while trying to get inside to escape the storm. The individual was reportedly transported to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, but details were not available late Monday.
Lindenhurst Police Chief Tom Jones and Slazes said they were in contact with other police and fire officials as tornado sirens sounded. Jones said they estimated the straight line winds were blowing at 65 miles per hour, but suspects there was not a tornado.
Jones said approximately a third of Lindenhurst was without power as they received 10 calls about wires down. He said the trees and wires that fell were primarily on private property and roads were not blocked Monday. There was minor flooding reported on some residential streets.
Slazes said his department answered 20 storm-related calls. Most were for fallen trees, including others that struck homes and caused damage to the buildings. More information about the damaged caused was not available Monday night.
“Some really big ones were uprooted,” Slazes said.
Grayslake Police Commander Brian Ernst said there are reports of flooding and tree limbs resting on power lines, but none were on the ground.
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Waukegan and Gurnee appeared to escape serious damage. Detective Shawn Gaylor of the Gurnee Police Department said harm was limited to some downed trees. Waukegan Police Commander Joe Florip said in a text there were no major difficulties reported.
Police or fire departments in Antioch, Round Lake and Fox Lake were continuing to respond to calls of damage in their communities and unable to respond.
This article will be updated.
Steve Sadin is a freelance reporter for the Lake County News-Sun.
This content was originally published here.
