IL

Storm restoration across Lake County

Lake County sits at the northern edge of the Chicago metro, where supercell thunderstorms tracking northeast across the Illinois plains regularly deliver large hail (1-inch or greater on 10-15 days per year regionally, with 2-inch-plus hail on 2-3 days per year), straight-line winds exceeding 60 mph, and periodic derecho events such as the June 2014 and July 2024 events that caused widespread structural damage across the county. The county averages roughly 0.3-0.5 tornadoes per year, historically including significant events (an F4 in 1967; an EF-1 across Round Lake, Hainesville, and Grayslake in August 2015), and its position along Lake Michigan exposes it to lake-effect snow and ice storms that create roof snow loads, ice dams, and freeze-thaw shingle damage through the winter. Heavy rainfall from both warm-season thunderstorms and slow-moving low-pressure systems regularly overwhelms storm drain capacity, leading to basement flooding and sewer backups that rank among the most frequent and costly residential claims in the county.