Damaging Winds and High Wind in Illinois, August 24, 1998

A small intense line of thunderstorms raced across north central and northeast Illinois at 55 mph. There were numerous reports of tree limbs and power lines down as well as some structural damage to buildings and some trees uprooted. The most intense damage was from northern Ogle and extreme southern Winnebago Counties east southeast to southern Cook and eastern Will Counties. Some of the highest wind gusts included 74 mph at RFD at 1159 CST, 73 MPH at Carol Stream at 1236 CST, 80 mph at Joliet at 1253 pm CST, 61 mph at Burbank at 1300 CST and 67 mph at Midlothian at around 1310 CST. Four inch diameter tree limbs were blown down in southern Winnebago County. Tree damage was widespread across northern Ogle County, including trees and limbs on houses. State Roads 72 and 64 were down to one lane in places. The roof of Byron High School was damaged. There was also extensive damage to corn crops. Trees and power lines were down in Lee County. Trees and power lines were damaged in northern De Kalb County. A state trooper estimated winds in excess of 60 mph. A semi-tractor trailer driver was injured at Kirkland. A student suffered a broken leg and 10 other people had minor injuries at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb when the winds blew down tents and other debris at a display. In Kane County, trees were down at Elburn and signs were blown over at the Aurora toll plaza on I-88. A large tree fell on a house in Aurora. Large trees were blown down in northern Kendall County. In Minooka in northeast Grundy County winds gusted to 40 to 50 mph which caused a building under construction to collapse. A man was injured when he was trapped under the collapsed wall. In Du Page County , the roof was torn off a lumber store in Wheaton, a wall of a building under construction came down in Naperville and there was extensive damage to trees and houses in Wheaton and Lisle. A 39 year old worker was critically injured when he fell two stories from the roof of a building in Schaumburg. In Will County high winds damaged a roof at a shopping center in Crest Hill/Joliet, and tree limbs to 5 inches in diameter came down. Trees were also downed in Frankfort, New Lenox, Manhattan, Beecher, and Crete. In Cook County, a day care center in Bridgeview had part of its roof torn off and windows broken. A CTA bus shelter blew over in the far southwest side of Chicago injuring a woman. Part of the roof was peeled of Marist High School in the far southwest side of Chicago. About 260,000 customers in northern Illinois lost power. The winds uprooted or severely damaged at least 200 trees in Chicago, according to the Bureau of Forestry.