Storm Causes Outages, Tree Damage in Northbrook

The following is from the Village of Northbrook:

As of 6:30 this evening we have responded to 98 total calls centering around tree related debris as a result of this afternoon’s storm that brought with it winds that measured 81 mph (at the Public Works Center). While the rain came down very hard we only recorded .6 inches.

Public Works will be holding a few crews until 8:00 p.m. tonight to remove obstructions from the roadway in order to provide clear lanes for vehicular traffic. We will not be cutting non-emergency trees or limbs this evening due to the continued rain and the darkness for safety reasons.

We will have 20 staff members in Saturday, beginning at 7:00 a.m. to remove hanging branches, clear sidewalks, chip limbs, and sweep streets. We anticipate having two street sweepers out, two tree crews with chippers, and crews clearing inlets of tree debris. The Park District will also be providing us with a third chippers later in the day.

ComEd is currently reporting that there are 45 power outages affecting approximately 4,000 customers across Northbrook. The storm has affected over 110,000 customers across the region (see map below). ComEd is still assessing damage to the system and not currently able to provide us with estimated restoration times. Given the number of outages across the system, these may be multi-day outages. Staff will be monitoring this over the weekend and provide updates as information becomes available.

Beginning on Monday, Public Works crews will be picking up and chipping tree limbs damaged during the storm. While this work will be primarily focused on trees located in the right of way, crews will also pick up limbs dropped from private trees if they are brought to the parkway by the resident. Residents are asked to place branches with stump end facing the street to help crews collect them as easily as possible. It is important to note that crews will not cleanup entire privately owned trees nor will they pick up limbs brought to the curb by tree contractors or landscapers. In addition, once a crew has worked through an area, they will not return to pick up private limbs. Residents are requested to call the Public Works Department at 847-272-4711if they have branches that would like to have picked up. Friday, September 12 will be the last day that crews to pick up private limbs.

Northbrook customers that had “missed” refuse and recycling pick-ups today may expect Advanced Disposal to “catch-up” on Saturday.

Patch file photo