Thousands citywide report tree damage after severe overnight storms, tornado warning

Maggie Paul’s bad car luck got even worse early Monday morning.

As severe thunderstorms swept through Chicago, a massive, aging tree branch broke off and smashed her parked car on Campbell Avenue in Logan Square just after midnight.

“My upstairs neighbor texted me at like midnight and was like, ‘Are you up? I think you should come outside. I just got home, and there’s a tree on your car,'” Paul said.

She’s only had the green Honda HR-V for six months. It’s a replacement for her last car after the engine exploded. Her new car was the only one on the block hit by the branch on Monday.

“I think I’m cursed at this point,” Paul said.

But bad luck didn’t single out Paul. Thousands called the Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications on Monday reporting tree debris and damage caused by fallen branches.

Lawrence Donohue, with the forestry division of Streets and Sanitation, was out helping to clear the branch on Campbell Avenue Monday morning. It was his third call of the day, and he was expecting plenty more during his 12-hour shift.

“It’s pretty bad citywide today,” said Donohue, whose crew responds to calls across the city — from the Far South Side to all the way north. “We’re going to be doing this all day.”

The branch on Campbell was deemed a priority because it blocked the sidewalk and entrances to a home and apartment building on the 2200 block of the street, Donohue said.

Looking at the inside of the branch, It was inevitable that the branch would fall, he said. It was rotted and hollowed out.

“This whole tree will have to come down now,” Donohue said. “It’s not safe anymore.”

Donohue said if residents are concerned about a tree on their street, they can call 311 to have an inspector come out.

As of mid-day Monday, a spokesperson with the Office of Emergency Management and Communications said 1,430 calls were made to 311 for tree debris and 2,810 for a tree emergency, which is when a downed tree or branch is blocking streets and sidewalks or has caused damage to a home or car. All the calls were due to storm damage, the spokesperson said.

The city was under a severe thunderstorm watch, and a tornado warning was issued late Sunday and into early Monday. But the bad weather isn’t over yet. Another round of storms is expected Monday night.

The Campbell branch narrowly missed Debi Guenthner’s front door, broke her fence and filled her front yard with branches. She was out front Monday afternoon clearing branches.

“At first I thought it was lightning, but seeing how hollow that branch is, it was only a matter of time,” said Guenthner, who had called the city a couple times to have the tree trimmed, but no one came. “It came so close to our windows, it could have been so much worse.”

She didn’t see or hear the branch fall, but discovered it when she stepped out front for a cigarette early Monday.

She immediately called 311. “I told them the sidewalk was blocked, that’s how you get them out here fast,” she said.

Guenthner, who has lived in her home for 20 years, also lent Paul a hand getting into her car.

“She really was the mom-type help I needed today,” said Paul, a resident of the block for the last decade.

Neighbors Barbara Kaiser and Carol Tarnoff were out for their morning walk when they came across the crews working on the branch.

“A lot of the trees in the neighborhood are really old,” Kaiser said. “They’re wonderful until they start coming down.”

They both said they appreciate the ample shade and greenery provided by the towering trees, but the city has a responsibility to maintain the trees to avoid causing extensive damage.

“If these trees are on the city’s parkway, they need to regularly maintenance them,” Tarnoff said.

The Diversey Driving Range in Lincoln Park was damaged by the storm. The netting for the range was torn after a large tree branch fell. Signs outside the facility said the range was closed on Monday.

The strong winds also moved a plane on Midway International Airport’s tarmac. At around 10:45 p.m. a Southwest aircraft, while stationary and empty, “made contact with a jet bridge,” according to the Chicago Department of Aviation.

The Office of Emergency Management and Communications fielded 311 calls for other storm damage: 104 for water in a basement, 207 for water in the street, 231 for downed wires, 138 for damaged streetlight poles and 178 for dead traffic signals, the spoksperson said.

As of Monday afternoon, nearly 3,000 ComEd customers were dealing with power outages, according to the utility company’s outage map.

Ahead of Monday night’s storm, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago asked residents to reduce their water use. Limiting the amount of water used in a household helps prevent flooding and protects the water quality, according to the district.