The 75 miles-per-hour wind storms destroyed a number of trees in west suburban Glen Ellyn. The streets are lined with fallen trees.
It takes decades of years for trees to reach full maturity but only seconds for them to be destroyed in violent weather such as the hurricane-force winds that hit the area Monday morning.
At Sunset Park on Fairview Avenue in Glen Ellyn a beautiful, old Silver Maple was destroyed and now must come down.
"You think of loss of shade and lots of comfort and coolness and quality of life in a community like that, so it is sad to see some of the trees come down," said Edith Makra of the Morton Arboretum.
Trees not only make the community beautiful, they are also good for our health, experts say.
"When you have trees around, they actually cool the environment. So the whole community can be much cooler in the summertime, and of course there is air quality, so they produce fresh oxygen and filter out particulate solution," said Makra.
Trees up and down Glen Ellyn's Main Street were destroyed in the storm.
One tree planted over 30 years ago by resident Bruce Sennekes' grandfather is an important part of his home.
"It's terrible. I mean nature took so long to grow this and one brief moment yesterday and it's all partially destroyed," said Sennekes.
In the 100 block of Clark Street, Warren Malvick's garage was totaled in the wind storm when his neighbor's Sycamore tree came tumbling down. No one was injured.
"Right now as long as the big logs are up on the roof, it's dangerous to go inside it," said Malvick.
"It is a special tree. It's been here a lot longer than what I have and we have been. I think it's been here for 150 years. It's seen a lot of changes and we are really going to miss it," said Amy Murphy, Glen Ellyn resident.
As the cleanup continues, many Glen Ellyn residents still don't have power. One resident told ABC7 that ComEd will not be restoring power to the suburb until Friday.
