McHenry County area thrashed by storms again Monday as cleanup continues from weekend weather

As McHenry County cleans up from storms that ravaged the area Saturday, another system swept the region Monday afternoon.

A tornado warning was issued at one point late Monday afternoon for northwestern Kane County, including areas like Hampshire, Huntley, Pingree Grove, Elgin and Gilberts. Many of those areas were also under a severe thunderstorm warning for much of late Monday afternoon into the evening.

With heavy rains repeating themselves again Monday, a flood watch was in effect for McHenry County until 4 a.m. Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service.

McHenry Township fire officials said tornado sirens were activated Monday afternoon as a precaution because of radar indicating a “bow echo formation.”

Fire officials said on Facebook bow echoes can “generate tornado activity.”

The sirens in McHenry went off mid-afternoon as another round of storms passed through the county.

Just over 1,000 ComEd customers were still without power in McHenry County as of mid-Monday morning, according to the ComEd outage map. The number was down from late Sunday afternoon, when around 4,000 customers were still waiting to be reconnected.

Despite efforts at restoration, the number of those without power rose slightly during the day as more bad weather moved through. But just before 5 p.m. Monday, about 350 customers countywide were left power.

[ See photos of weekend storm damage ]

Most of the areas with outages from the weekend were in and around Cary, Fox River Grove and Algonquin, which were among the hardest-hit areas in the county by the storms that swept through the area Saturday.

Cary, Fox River Grove, Lake in the Hills and Algonquin all posted that there would be brush cleanup. Lake in the Hills residents should move tree branches and debris to the curb by Monday evening and Public Works is making one pass-through starting Tuesday. Cary and Algonquin have similar programs taking place next week.

In Fox River Grove, crews will be collecting branches over the next several weeks. Nearly all of Fox River Grove was without power at one point during the storms that came through Saturday, but the village is close to full power restoration, according to a village Facebook post.

In Cary, Cary Lake at Rotary Park is closed through Wednesday because ComEd is using the park to stage recovery efforts, officials said.

Cary officials also declared a state of emergency in the village Saturday after the storms. The order is in effect for seven days unless the Cary Village Board opts to extend it.