We Really Needed the Rain, But It Came with So Much More

UPDATE July 1, 5:30 p.m.: Flooded areas have been cleared, the underpass, which had been closed to all traffic, is now open, but a number of people are still without power. The City of Elmhurst has released this statement:

"The City of Elmhurst currently is assessing damage and responding to multiple calls for assistance, which include power lines down, trees that have fallen on structures, trees blocking roadways and roadway flooding. The City of Elmhurst currently has Fire, Police and Public Works crews out in force working to handle each incident in a timely manner."

The city is responding to all reported incidents, according to the statement. Call 911 to report downed power lines. Do not approach fallen wires. To report power outages, call (800)-334-7661.

"The clean-up process will take a time. Please use caution when navigating streets, and suspend any unnecessary traffic while street clean-up takes place. We encourage you to check on neighbors, especially senior citizens and persons with disabilites. Thank you for your patience as the City and ComEd work to restore power and clear streets."

EARLIER:

Elmhurst residents and the city's Public Works Department have a mess to clean up after a severe storm, complete with black, swirling skies, 90-mile-per-hour winds and hail blew through the city at about 12:30 p.m. Sunday.

Temperatures were hovering around 90 degrees when the storm began and dropped to about 65 after it was all over. It appears to have been an equal-opportunity storm, affecting all corners of the city. Thousands of ComEd's Elmhurst customers were without power as of 1 p.m., and generators could be heard firing up all over the city.

Most of the cleanup will be related to large tree branches down, some of those branches large enough to block the streets. Via Facebook, Elmhurst Patch has learned that some of those branches appear to be leaning on power lines.

Some localized street flooding also was found at Spring and Vallette, and York and Cayuga, among other places. Residents emerged from their homes to drag branches off their driveways and rake debris that was blocking sewer grates.

The rest of the day is expected to be partly cloudy with no real chance of additional storms, and temperatures climbing back up into the 90s, according to the National Weather Service. The heat wave continues all next week, with high temperatures between 95 and 98 through Friday. Isolated thunderstorms are predicted for Monday and Wednesday, and as today proved, those can at times be severe.

Do you have photos of damage from the storm? Please upload them here.