Two severe storms swept through Brookfield on Monday, leaving downed trees, flooded streets and closed railroad crossings in their wake.
The first storm hit around noon, plunging the village into near-total darkness. A second barrage of rain and wind followed around 5 p.m., compounding the damage.
“It was pitch black here at noon. It was pitch black again around 5 o’clock,” Village Manager Timothy Wiberg reported during Monday night’s Brookfield Village Board meeting. “I’ve haven’t seen storms like this in a long time.”
Public works crews spent the day responding to emergency calls, Wiberg recounted. Trees blocked roadways across the village, sewer inlets flooded and railroad crossings remained closed as of Monday evening, with no immediate timeline for reopening.
“Public works has been out doing their due diligence to check on trees across roadways and so forth. They are cleaning it up,” Wiberg said.
The storms arrived during an already busy summer for the village’s Public Works Department. In recent weeks, crews have managed multiple large community events, including the Fourth of July celebration, the Brookfield Bike Race and the village’s Music on Grand concert series. The department also dealt with water main breaks earlier in the month.
The timing of the storms tested the department just two weeks into the tenure of Matt Havlik, the village’s new deputy director of public works. Havlik, who most recently served as assistant to the village manager in Lisle, previously worked in the public works department in Winnetka.
Village President Michael Garvey welcomed Havlik to Brookfield at Monday’s board meeting. “We thought in your first two weeks we’d give you a little bit of everything — some big events, some storms, some rain, some things just to get you exposed to everything. It’s good to see that you’re still here,” Garvey quipped.
Residents who experienced damage or need assistance with cleanup are encouraged to report issues through the village’s SeeClickFix app, available on the village website. The app allows residents to submit photos and descriptions of problems that need attention, and public works staff will prioritize responses based on severity.
“If you have a reported item that needs to be remedied by the village, please just use ClickFix and they will get out there,” Wiberg said.
As of Monday evening, the full extent of damage across the village was still being assessed. Information on the storms’ wind speeds, rainfall totals and power outages was not immediately available.