Northwest suburbs cleaning up, waiting for power
Many Northwest suburban residents continued to display large reserves of patience and practicality Tuesday in the wake of an unprecedented power outage caused by Monday’s destructive storms.
The northwest corner of Prospect Heights was among the hardest-hit areas of Cook County, but most people were getting on with what they could do rather than cursing the delay.
A ComEd spokesman said Tuesday night that the utility expects to restore power to 70 percent of affected customers by this afternoon, 90 percent by midnight Wednesday and 99 percent by midnight on July 16.
As soon as Parmjot Parmar heard from ComEd crews that the downed lines affecting his neighborhood would likely take a few days to repair, he began shopping around for a portable generator.
And when he couldn’t find one, he made the two-hour round trip to Kenosha, Wis., to borrow one from a friend.
“I have a new puppy that was getting hot and two young children,” Parmar said.
The generator arrived too late to save the food in his refrigerator and storage freezer, both of which had begun to smell. He believes he lost $400 to $500 in food.
Having the generator running Tuesday made life inside his house more comfortable. He plans to buy one of his own as soon as he can, but there are some downsides. Not only does it produce a lot of noise and carbon monoxide, but uses a lot of costly gasoline as well.
With several generators now operating in the neighborhood, the local demand for gas has risen. Between his first and second trip to the Shell station at Route 83 and Camp McDonald Road Monday, the price per gallon had risen from $3.91 to $3.99.
But Parmot was grateful a heavy tree branch that had hovered over his roof managed to twist off to the side rather than fall straight down when Monday’s winds tore it off.
A neighbor estimated he’d sustained between $5,000 and $10,000 damage to his trees and his wife’s car, which was hit by falling branches. In front of another house sat a car with a newly shattered back window.
Prospect Heights will talk with contractors Wednesday to get help removing trees, said Steve Skiber, director of building and zoning. He expects the $5,000 the council allocated Monday night will be sufficient. Some funds still remain from the $20,000 the council approved for removing trees from last month’s storm.
The city was about two days away from finishing that cleanup, officials said. Residents can put brush and limbs on the parkway for city removal.
Chuck Panzer lives right next to a downed tree on Schoenbeck Road that was causing the lingering power outage in his Prospect Heights neighborhood. His home, however, is on the edge of a different power grid and had its electricity restored by 7 p.m. Monday.
But he had a front-row seat to the two-day effort to keep people away from the dangerous power lines, remove the tree and carefully repair the lines.
“The men are diligent in their work,” he said of the ComEd crews. “They keep at it. They must be fatigued. I think they do an excellent job considering the situation.”
Terry Rohan, a replacement mail carrier from the Prospect Heights Post Office, said navigating the neighborhood was a little tricky Tuesday and dependent on the cooperation of ComEd crews. But he managed to reach every curbside mailbox on his route.
“It’s a little more of a challenge, but it’s doable,” he said.
Robin Cardi, riding her bicycle through the neighborhood Tuesday, is using a generator to power her refrigerator, freezer and sump pump, but not her air conditioner. Because of that, her mother-in-law, who normally lives with her, has gone to stay with another relative at the opposite end of Prospect Heights, Cardi said.
About 300,000 customers still had no electricity late Tuesday, most in the utility’s northern region, which includes the North and Northwest suburbs. About 550,000 customers have had power restored since the storms hit Monday morning.
ComEd urges customers experiencing a prolonged outage to turn off all appliances, including furnace, water heater, and water pump; and leave a lamp on to know when power has been restored.
In Mount Prospect, cooling centers are available at the village hall, Mount Prospect Public Library, St. Emily’s Church and the RecPlex.
Wheeling residents who want to have fallen limbs and branches picked up by the village need to have them in front of their property by Friday. If they don’t, Public Works Director Tony Stavros said, they’ll have to schedule a pick up with Waste Management.
In Palatine, crews Wednesday will begin a villagewide special brush pickup. By 6 a.m., residents are encouraged to move all storm-related trees, limbs and brush to the parkways between the street and sidewalk. To expedite the process, limbs should be placed with stems toward the road.
Schaumburg public works crews will be driving through the village picking up brush to chip through next Monday. Residents are urged not to call to schedule a pickup as crews will be around regularly.
Rolling Meadows residents are asked to put tree debris on their parkways according to the directions for regular tree chipper pickups. Crews will start removing the debris at 7 a.m. Monday, July 18, with only one pass being made on each street. Regulations include a maximum of 6 inches in diameter and not sticking out in the street or on the sidewalks with cut end facing the street.
Public works crews in Barrington and Des Plaines are also continuing to pick up collected brush from the storm.
Ÿ Staff writers Kimberly Pohl, Madhu Krishnamurthy, Deborah Donovan and Rachel Levin contributed to this story.