A violent storm sliced through Brookfield, Riverside and North Riverside late Monday night, causing tree damage, power outages and minor flooding.

Officials in all three villages reported scattered power outages. According to North Riverside Public Works Director Tim Kutt, portions of that village were without power for up to three hours during the storm. Brookfield suffered sporadic power outages, while Riverside’s outages appeared to be limited to the western portion of the village near Woodside, Northwood, Forest and Maplewood roads.

A ComEd spokesperson said that, as of Tuesday morning, 111 Brookfield residents were still without power, along with one customer in Riverside.

Lyons Township High School, which serves the south side of Brookfield, was closed Tuesday due to a widespread power outage in that area. As of Tuesday morning, ComEd reported just over 400 customers still without power in LaGrange. LTHS has two campuses, one in LaGrange and one in Western Springs.

Riverside appears to have received the brunt of the tree damage locally, with reports of at least two downed trees and several major tree limbs. One of the trees blown down was a mid-size crabapple tree in Guthrie Park just north of the Riverside Public Library. The other was a silver maple near the intersection of Herrick Road and Harlem Avenue on the village’s east side.

Michael Collins, Riverside’s village forester, said the tree damage could have been worse if the storm had occurred earlier in the year.

“At this time of year the sap isn’t flowing and there aren’t as many leaves,” Collins said. “It could have been much worse if it had happened in the beginning of the summer.”

Collins also reported flooding in Scottswood Common in the village’s First Division. Assistant Fire Chief Matt Buckley added that the department responded to three calls of flooded basements, turning off power to those areas and helping isolate the flooded areas. Leaves clogged street catch basins, leading to minor street flooding in all three villages. Capt. Bill Mitiu of the Brookfield Fire Department said firefighters responded to several calls of flooded basements.

First Ave. shut down

Riverside was forced to close First Avenue for a time Monday night after clogged sewer lines caused significant flooding underneath the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe Railroad trestle that spans the roadway.

According to Riverside Assistant Police Chief Thomas Weitzel, crews closed First Avenue at 10:17 p.m. Officers reported that cars going under the trestle were in danger of completely flooding at that time.

Lyons Police and ESDA personnel assisted in diverting traffic away from First Avenue, and barricades were placed at Ogden Avenue, Ridgewood Road, Waubansee Road, Parkview Avenue and Forest Avenue to prevent traffic from entering the area.

Crews from the Illinois Department of Transportation arrived on the scene at 12:20 a.m. Tuesday to clear the sewer inlets. The road was reopened to traffic at 1:30 a.m., Weitzel said.

Despite the road flooding, neither the Des Plaines River nor Salt Creek appeared to be in danger of overflowing their banks.

“The river seems to be doing fine at this point,” Buckley said of the Des Plaines. “I don’t anticipate it going above flood stage.”

Monday night’s storm produced as much as 4 inches of rain in some parts of the greater Chicago metro area. Rain totals were reported to be smaller than that locally, however. According to Chris Gitro, meteorologist for the National Weather Service’s Chicago office, Midway Airport reported 2.63 inches of rain, while LaGrange reported 2.41 inches and Berwyn 2.56 inches.

Peak wind gusts reached 44 mph around 8:40 p.m. at Midway Airport, Gitro said.

“We had a strong upper level disturbance combined with warm, moist, unstable conditions from the Gulf of Mexico,” Gitro said. “Combining those two things initiated everything, and it was game on from that point.”

Monday’s storm was not nearly as damaging as one that swept through the area in August, which blew down several trees and demolished power poles. Power outages in some areas of Riverside after that storm lasted for more than 24 hours.