CHATHAM— Sunday’s severe thunderstorm left a mess in the streets and damages for residents in the Chatham community on Monday.
Blocks like 80th Street and Wabash Avenue were hit the worst, said Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6th).
The streets were closed because of large tree limbs and branches in the street. Yards were torn up and sidewalks were blocked. One homeowner’s car had a busted window.
Storm damages pic.twitter.com/LOAgFF5YKZ
— Andrea V. Watson (@AndreaVWatson12) July 25, 2016
Resident Reginald Lee said Sunday night his girlfriend’s car was surrounded by tree limbs and broken glass. She declined to comment, but Lee, who has lived on the block for 26 years, said the damage might not have been as bad if the city had more regularly trimmed the trees in the neigbhborhood.
“They’re at the bottom of my list right now and I’m so angry with them,” he said.
If the trees were trimmed more often or cut down when they’re dead, the car might not have been damaged, he said, adding that he has called 311 several times, but nothing has been addressed.
Homeowners on his block could be seen dragging tree limbs to the curb for the city to pick up Monday.
But neighbor Joy Densmore said the city was very responsive in coming out to move the fallen tree branches. Several large tree branches fell and blocked the path to her front door, but crews were out on her block as early as 8 a.m. to move them, she said.
Densmore, who has lived in her home on 80th and Wabash for 20 years, said that the aftermath didn’t have to be as bad as it was, if the city had been more regularly trimming the trees.
“A lot of this could have been eliminated if it was taking care of before the storm,” Densmore said.
She pointed to tree branches nearly touching the front of her home’s roof and others hanging low over the sidewalk.
Neighbor Ernest Hammond said he's never seen the trees so bad in the neighborhood.
“It goes all the way down to 87th street,” he said. “It looks pretty bad and I’ve never seen it look like this.”
Homeowner Timothy Butler said his house was the first on the block to get cleaned up, but he and his daughter still had to drag heavy branches from the backyard to the curb.
“It was real bad,” he said, pointing to the large patches of grass that had been pulled up with the tree branches. He said he isn’t frustrated with the city because he sees they are trying.
Sawyer said that 80th and Wabash was the worst block in the ward because of the number of trees that were ripped out of the ground.
“It was horrible,” he said.
Even if the trees had already been trimmed before the storm, there still would have been damages, he said.
“It would not have stopped what happened yesterday; it may have alleviated it a little bit, but this was quite a storm,” Sawyer said.
He’s working with the city to establish a tree trimming grid system. He said that trees should be trimmed every 5-6 years. If people in the 6th Ward have complaints, they can call his office he said.
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