Sunday's Storm 'Split Around' Elmhurst

ELMHURST, IL — The storm that hit the suburbs late Sunday night left Elmhurst largely unscathed compared with other towns, an official said Monday.

"Late last night, we had quite a storm come through DuPage County," City Manager Jim Grabowski told the City Council. "Fortunately for Elmhurst, the storm kind of split around us. Citywide, we fared pretty well."

The Palmer Drive and Route 83 underpasses filled up with stormwater, he said.

"But it drained fairly quickly and we got it cleared up to make it passable," Grabowski said. "We had three calls for street flooding isolated from that. All in all, pretty good."

The rain amounts varied from 0.7 inches on Elmhurst's south side to 2 inches on the north side, he said.

"It sure seemed like it was coming down in buckets on the south side where I was," Grabowski said.

The city activated its six tornado sirens at 10:42 p.m. Sunday. The sirens are at the fire training tower on the city's north side, Behrens Park, York High School, and Field, Jefferson and Jackson elementary schools.

To alleviate flooding, Alderman Mark Mulliner urged residents to clean the storm sewer grates near their houses.

"We don't have enough crews to clean up every single grate," he said. "It helps a lot."