Joliet: Major Storm Damage, Scattered Power Outages

JOLIET, IL —Saturday afternoon's high winds and severe thunderstorms damaged hundreds of trees across the city of Joliet with the Cathedral Area among the hardest neighborhoods hit. Saturday's storms caused emergency management officials to sound the tornado sirens as high winds and lightning wrecked havoc in many neighborhoods.

Joliet Fire Chief Greg Blaskey also told Joliet Patch the city's downtown was hit hard. The city of Joliet-owned building directly adjacent to the Joliet Slammers stadium on East Jefferson Street had its roof blow off and other parts of the building were also damaged, the chief said.

Blaskey said that several trees along North Chicago Street in the main downtown district were destroyed by the high winds. The pawn shop across from the Harrah's Casino & Hotel also sustained significant roof damage, he added.

On a positive note, Blaskey said he was not aware of any other downtown buildings that sustained damage aside from the pawn shop and the multi-story building that was being marketed for business redevelopment next to the Slammers ballpark.

Blaskey called in an entire extra shift of Joliet firefighters - 60 employees - to help with the emergency response effort all over the city.

On another good note, Blaskey said there were no injuries and no deaths from Saturday's storms.

He also knew of little damage to houses. The main damage was trees and downed power lines, he said.

"Now, it's just a matter of cleanup," he remarked.

Joliet Patch visited several areas of the city's west side late Saturday afternoon. There were huge trees toppled on Taylor Street, West Acres Road, Prairie Avenue and Glenwood Avenue, Woodlawn Avenue and Douglas Street, Taylor and Cornelia and sections of William Street were blocked because of huge trees that collapsed into the street blocking access for cars in both directions.

There were also scattered power outages. The stop lights at Midland Avenue and Black Road lost electricity, causing city crews to install temporary stop signs at that busy intersection. Residents who lived on West Acres told Patch their electricity was knocked out and that crews from Com-Ed were aware of their problem and working to fix it.

Joliet's fire chief told Patch he was not aware of any confirmed tornados that touched down in Joliet.