Building Damaged, Power Outages Reported After Fierce Winds Tear Through Chicago Area

Intense winds ripped through portions of the Chicago area Saturday, tearing the roof off a suburban apartment building and causing power outages for more than 30,000 people.

In Elk Grove Village, a portion of the roof at Willow Crossing Apartments,  1031 Charlela Ln., was blown off at around 10:30 a.m. Fire officials say in all, the complex has approximately 60 units, and no injuries were reported. The American Red Cross was called in to assist residents who were displaced in finding temporary shelter.

Roofing contractors arrived to assess the damage in the afternoon hours and try to figure out when they'll be able to make temporary repairs.

"It's not really safe to be working up on the roof right now, so it might take a few more hours, when the winds come down we can maybe get some of the roofing people up there then we'll have some building inspectors come down and take a look at it," said Chief Richard J. Mikel of the Elk Grove Village Fire Department.

Elsewhere, more than 35,000 ComEd customers were without power as a result of the high winds Saturday evening. However, that number decreased to approximately 8,400 as of 9:37 p.m. Outages were reported all across the region, with some of the largest in the city of Chicago, Evanston, Oak Park and south suburbs.

Intense wind gusts reached anywhere from 60 to 80 miles per hour, but as expected, did subside in the evening hours.

Along with continued power outages, people all across the area encountered down trees, including in areas like Hollywood Park and Jefferson Park.

The fierce winds also caused train delays that affected at least three Metra lines.

“I live in the suburbs and it was actually pretty bad out there too, like my house was shaking,” said Metra rider Joshua Sampson.

Thankfully, Sampson was only delayed by 10 to 15 minutes coming into downtown Chicago.

“It’s Chicago, I don’t know what to say, it’s the Windy City,” he added.