"Widespread damage" across most towns in Lake County prompted county officials on Tuesday to proclaim a state of emergency.
The county hopes it will help get assistance with debris removal and cleanup costs from the state, Lake County Emergency Management Agency coordinator Kent McKenzie said.
“While it isn’t clear that any state or federal disaster assistance will become available, Lake County Emergency Management is compiling initial damage and cost assessments from communities in regard to all of the recent storms,” McKenzie said in a statement.
Monday morning's storm that swept through the Chicago area was worse than storms on June 21 and June 30, McKenzie said, because it impacted a majority of the county.
Many trees were damaged or destroyed by strong winds, some exceeding 70 mph, he said. And many residents still remain without power.
The northern region was hardest hit by storm power outages, with 126,000 of 199,000 ComEd customers still in the dark. The utility company told NBC Chicago that 95 percent of power should be restored by midnight Thursday.
