Village: Sirens Didn't Sound Because No Tornado was Sighted

Updated: 3:30 p.m. June 22

Tornado sirens didn't sound in advance of Tuesday's devastating storm because the criteria for activating the alarm wasn't met.

"Some of the criteria includes actually sighting a funnel cloud, or a warning from the National Weather Service that we are in the direct line of a tornado," said Doug Kozlowski, village communications director. Once a tornado has been confirmed, a member of the village's Emergency Operations Center activates the sirens.

Although the NWS issued a tornado warning for DuPage County last evening, the alert described storms that could contain tornadoes rather than a specific sighting.

"We want people to know the village is a certified storm-ready community by the National Weather Service and we recently this year received re-certification on our policy and procedures for the use of tornado sirens," Kozlowski said.

The storm clocked winds of at least 80 mph, roaring through the community with devastating effect. A wide swath of mid-town Downers Grove sustained the worst damage, particularly the area between Maple Avenue and 63rd Street. There, long blocks were a minefield of fallen limbs, split trunks and uprooted trees.

Mike McDonald, 1141 Blanchard, surveyed the damage outside his home this morning. He had arrived home last night to find an uprooted tree had fallen on the house while two more large trees lay strewn across his property. If there is Ground Zero for last night's storm, the intersection of Blanchard and Carpenter might well be it.

The village is formulating a plan to collect fallen trees and branches from both public parkways and private property, Kozlowski said. Although the village will not come on to private property to remove trees, residents who are able to move the debris to the parkway will have it disposed of free of charge.

The decision to collect the tree damage was triggered by village policy. "All criteria were met to pick it up," Kozlowski said. Details will be available tomorrow.

However, those residents whose properties sustained serious damage will need to make other arrangements. "If a tree has fallen on their property and hit a house or car, people need to make arrangements with a tree contractor to have it removed and also to talk to their insurance company," Kozlowski said.

He stressed residents should not call 911 about storm damage, with the exception of downed power lines. For other concerns or questions, residents are encouraged to call Village Hall at 630-434-5500. A list of licensed tree removal contractors will be available on the village website.

Public Works crews and residents continued to work to clear downed limbs and uprooted trees this morning as the village assessed damages and began to recover from the storm. "We will be contracting with tree services. It's all part of our plan for collection over the next couple of weeks," Kozlowski said.

Meanwhile, about 4,500 local ComEd customers still are without power. "At the moment we're just trying to advise people that we've been told it could be 48 hours or more before power is restored," Kozlowski said.

Last night, Downers Grove residents shared information about closed streets and power disruptions on Twitter. 

Don Peters reported a "huge" tree was blocking 5400 Cumnor Road, while Downers Grove firefighter Greg Curry tweeted another huge tree had fallen on a car and was blocking 59th Street at Washington Street. "Not passable, Washington northbound from 59 dangerous, tree on car, multiple large tree sections."

Other residents reported downed tree limbs in the vicinity of Hummer Park and power outages in the Washington Park area. Power outages were also reported on the west side of Barrett Street between 63rd Street and Norfolk  Street. However, Downers Grove has not yet shown up on ComEd's outage map.

"Trees down and power out all over (the Village of Downers Grove)," tweeted Mayor Martin Tully, who called a hasty end to the Village Council meeting after Commissioner Sean Durkin alerted him to tonight's tornado warning.

"(Public Service Response Team) and (Public Works) responding best they can to tree issues. No solid info from ComEd re power situation," Tully tweeted. He advised residents to check the village website for updates as they become available. 

Commissioner Bob Barnett called for patience in response to the storm damage. "Going to be a long night for many but we're all in this together... try to be patient as folks are already at work trying to clean up."