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Begone, before someone drops a house on you, too!

By
Real Estate Agent with Jameson Sotheby's International Realty

Some of you may know that we had a heck of a storm pass through the Evanston area yesterday morning.

It roared through here around 8:00 in the morning, and a mere fifteen-twenty minutes later was simply a memory.  But it left over 170 trees, or large branches down in Evanston, and hundreds of thousands of Chicago-area residents without power, and/or cable.  In my case, it left me without Comcast which handles my Cable television, broadband and telephone.

But I'm more fortunate than others, as we had no loss of trees, no damage to the house, no water in the basement, and we still have electricity.  As I write this there are still close to 100,000 Commonwealth Edison customers still without power, in hot and steamy condition.

Just to give you an idea of the power of this short-lived storm, here are a few photos of downed-trees in our area.

It must have been a bit of a micro-burst, as there was no report of a tornado or funnel cloud in the area... just localized strong-winds, and a lot of rain.

Hopefully, all will be improved, repaired and restored soon.

 

(251  -33)

What a world, what a world!!

Posted by

 ALAN MAY, Realtor®   
Specializing in Evanston Real Estate and North Shore Real Estate

Jameson Sotheby's International Realty, 2934 Central Street, Evanston, IL 60201
Office: 847.869.7300      Cell: 847.924.3313      Email: Almay@aol.com

Evanston Real Estate & North Shore Real Estate
Licensed in Illinois

   

Comments (53)

Rosalie Evans
Meritus Group Real Estate - Sioux Falls, SD
The Evans Group, Sioux Falls, SD Homes For Sale

Wow this sounds just like a storm we had in the town I used to live in, Flandreau, SD. Trees rooted up everywhere & no power! It took them days to get the power back on. I hope you all fare better. It makes me so sad to see all those beautiful trees knocked down like that! 

Jul 12, 2011 05:55 PM
Kim & Kristine Halverson
Sotheby's & Knipe ERA - Bend, OR
Sisters, Realtors
Love the tree pictures! But, how scary...
Jul 12, 2011 06:28 PM
Cheryl Ritchie
RE/MAX Leading Edge www.GoldenResults.com - Huntingtown, MD
Southern Maryland 301-980-7566
One tree alone here this year was $1800 after years and decades of no tree problems at all.
Jul 12, 2011 06:32 PM
Pamela Seley
West Coast Realty Division - Murrieta, CA
Residential Real Estate Agent serving SW RivCo CA

Alan, glad to hear everything is ok where you are. Those are some massive trees that fell over. At least they fell in the right direction.

Jul 12, 2011 07:16 PM
Wayne Johnson
Coldwell Banker D'Ann Harper REALTORS® - San Antonio, TX
San Antonio REALTOR, San Antonio Homes For Sale

Alan-Mother Nature can pack quite a punch. Glad you and yours are OK.

Jul 12, 2011 08:51 PM
Gita Bantwal
RE/MAX Centre Realtors - Warwick, PA
REALTOR,ABR,CRS,SRES,GRI - Bucks County & Philadel

Glad you and your Family are OK, It is scary to read about  the damage caused by trees uprooted by storms. When I sell houses where there are large trees close to the house I always worry about it and point it out to buyers.

Jul 12, 2011 11:14 PM
Michael Setunsky
Woodbridge, VA
Your Commercial Real Estate Link to Northern VA

Alan, were are having the same problems in our area. Every day we are having strom warnings. It seems the stroms are getting worse.

Jul 13, 2011 01:18 AM
Bryan Robertson
Los Altos, CA

I've been reading about all these weird storms but I had no idea they did this much damage.  850k people without power and it didn't make the news out here in CA.  Glad you came through without a scratch.

Jul 13, 2011 01:49 AM
Scott Petersen
Client First, Realtors - Canton, MI - Canton, MI

We saw the leading edge of that storm here in Michigan. Not quite the damage you saw, but we do have tree limbs down and have about 50k without power. Thankfully I am not one of them.

Jul 13, 2011 02:01 AM
Pat Zachow
HomeSmart - Phoenix, AZ

HI Alan, When it is your time it is your time.  Evidently it wasn't your time!  I am glad for your good fortune and hope the others with damage can recover quickly.

Jul 13, 2011 02:04 AM
Ellie Shorb
Compass Real Estate - Chevy Chase, MD
Realtor DC, MD & VA Luxury Home Expert

Scary! By the way, those ruby slippers look great. Where ever did you find them, sir? They certainly look good with the striped tights!

Jul 13, 2011 02:48 AM
Alan May
Jameson Sotheby's International Realty - Evanston, IL
Home is where the hearth is.

Melissa - we still have people this morning (2 days later) without power.

Peter - i do believe in spooks, I do believe is spooks... I do, I do...

Gay - I'm not supposed to play with the wand... it makes you go blind.

Evelyn - our Comcast is out (tv, phone, cable)... but power is nice.

Gene - I know... Tom Skilling rocks!

Lenn - normally our trees hang on... but this musta been one heckuvawind.

Cindy - our weather's been unusual, too.

Ed - the June storm was pretty bad, too... more water damage than this one...

Belinda - "Wicked" weather.... nice touch.

Lisa & Robert - I think it's pretty much gone, by now.

Mitch - firewood heaven around here... all you can hear is "chain saws".

Cindy - not sure how much of the area was covered... I'm on the North Side.

Karen - I know... it blew in and blew out very quickly.

Kathy - no, but I think I did see flying monkeys.

Shannon - they sure are!

Mary - I saw that... a "straight wind", kinda like the pressure front of a blast.

Deb - I don't know where Owensville is, so I'm gonna say "no".

Ray - mama nature ain't happy these days.

Jon - microburst is a term they seem to have come up with in the last couple of years... seems to account for "tornado-like damage, from tornado-like winds"... when there has been no actualy tornado.

Howard & Susan - same with my wife... she'd just left the house about 15 minutes earlier, saying "I'd better get Gus a quick walk before it rains", and she just got back moments before God opened the skies and drenched the area.

Patricia - over 170 of them in Evanston alone.

Joy - I'm glad, too.

Sharon - no actual Tornado... but very heavy winds.

Jane - Midway and O'Hare were both closed, as well as our Metra and EL (commuter trains) due to trees on the tracks.

Judy - oddly enough... it's not "uprooted" as the roots stayed in the ground... it was such a strong wind, the roots "snapped".

Sandra - yep, we love our basements.

SaraMana - musta been at least 100 years old.

Rosalie - they're saying maybe by the weekend, most power should be restored.

Kim & Kristine - it's impressive, no?

Cheryl - if the tree is in your own yard, it's your expense.. if it's on the parkway, it's the city.

Pamela - not all of them.

Wayne - she sure can, Wayne.  She sure can.

Gita - we have so many trees here... so many, that we don't think much about it.

Michael - mother nature has become a bit 'manic' in her old age, hasn't she?

Bryan - I think we're down under 100,000, by now.

Scott - I know, it's amazing how much we've come to depend on electricity.

Pat - oh, I'm still in line.

Ellie - they bring out the red in my eyes.

Jul 13, 2011 02:54 AM
Richie Alan Naggar
people first...then business Ran Right Realty - Riverside, CA
agent & author

For a tree to give in, it takes quite a significant force. As to anything else  SURRENDER DOROTHY THE TREE

Jul 13, 2011 02:57 AM
Tammy Emineth
Personal SEO - Website SEO and Real Estate Marketing - Frenchtown, MT
Content Marketer, SEO Teacher, Website Fixer

Holy Cow!! or should I say Holy Uprooted trees Batman!! That's a lot of damage to some old growth trees!! Hope you don't blow away!!

(Love the title of your post!)

 

Jul 13, 2011 03:26 AM
Brian Morgenweck
Power Realty Group, LLC Bergen County, NJ - Hackensack, NJ
Broker/Owner, GRI, CRS, ABR, SRS

Phew! We had a ripper like that in NJ last year...trees & wires down everywhere. It was a disaster.

Glad you're ok. ...By the way, my ex-wife's sister had a pair of shoes exactly like those. hmmm...

Jul 13, 2011 04:09 AM
Alan May
Jameson Sotheby's International Realty - Evanston, IL
Home is where the hearth is.

Richie - that's a horse of a different colour.

Tammy - glad you enjoyed it.

Brian - oh, those old things?

Jul 13, 2011 04:22 AM
Allen 2222
Austin, TX

Wow, Alan, one BIG tree down from that storm. That could have caused some serious damage!

Jul 13, 2011 06:19 AM
Carla Muss-Jacobs, RETIRED
RETIRED / State License is Inactive - Portland, OR

From the photos you posted, seems as a few fell opposite to the homes.  That's good, if there's something to be said positively.  

Jul 13, 2011 09:30 AM
Alan May
Jameson Sotheby's International Realty - Evanston, IL
Home is where the hearth is.

Alison - it sure could have.

Carla - there are a few that fell on homes and cars... I haven't heard if there were any injuries.

Jul 13, 2011 10:02 AM
Gloria Commiso
Keller Williams - Hermosa Beach, CA
Hermosa Beach

Good to hear that your feet on on solid albeit wet ground.....makes us appreciate what we have huh?

Jul 13, 2011 05:10 PM