Elgin City crews respond to July 9 storm
The City of Elgin experienced a heavy storm on July 9. Heavy rain and wind gusts resulted in a power outage and downed power lines. The power outage occurred due to the broken lines, trees, and branches. The neighborhood surrounding the downtown area experienced the most impact of the storm. According to city officials, storms came from the south west.
City crews started responding to the service calls shortly after 7:00 pm on Thursday. The emergency communications of Elgin received over 300 calls for service. The forestry service of the city received over 100 emergency calls. Elgin 311 responded to those calls for forestry service. Crews from Hanover Township and Kane County Emergency Management assisted the City staff in storm response efforts.
According to the city officials, they received assistance from the Elgin Forestry contractors in response efforts. Some areas experienced safety concerns due to the hardest impacts of the storm. City crews mainly focused on those areas to address downed trees and branches. Cleanup is the secondary focus of the city officials. They are first addressing branches that impact public safety.
The Forestry service officials said that they would perform cleaning operations over the next week. They will clean up debris from the streets and parkways. The residents are requested to park their cars on driveways or other off-street parking lots. According to the reports, ComEd was busy performing a power recovery operation. As of 9:00 am, there were only 5700 customers remained without power.
The residents are advised to report the issues concerning public safety to the Elgin Police Department. They can report the downed trees by calling at 311. The residents are advised to call a professional tree service for assistance if they have a downed tree in their private property. The city crews are working hard to normalize the situation. Their priority is to fix the issues that concern public safety first.
