July 27, 2026 Storm: What Western Suburbs Homeowners Need to Know Now
On Monday, July 27, 2026, two rounds of severe storms crossed Chicago’s western suburbs. The National Weather Service has since confirmed seven tornadoes across the Chicago area, three of them in DuPage County: Wheaton, Glen Ellyn, and Downers Grove. Hail reached 2.5 inches in Westmont, with reports from Clarendon Hills, Downers Grove, Lisle, Darien, and Naperville, and straight-line winds ran 60 to 80 mph along the I-355 corridor.
Here is what that means for your roof, in plain terms. Hail at 1 inch bruises shingles. Hail at 1.75 inches cracks them. Hail at 2.5 inches can damage the roof deck itself. Straight-line wind at 70 mph lifts shingle edges and breaks seals in ways you will not see from your driveway. The good news is that checking costs you nothing: our inspections are free, documented with photos, and come with an honest answer, even when that answer is “your roof is fine.”
Cook County Wants Your Damage Reported by August 5
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle issued a disaster proclamation for the July 27 storms on July 30. Part of that process is a resident damage survey, and it closes Wednesday, August 5. The county uses the responses to determine whether the area qualifies for state and federal disaster assistance.
It takes a few minutes, it is free, and it is available in English, Spanish, Polish, Ukrainian, and Mandarin. Cook County is direct about the limits: “Reporting damages to emergency management is voluntary. It is not a substitute for reporting damage to your insurance agency and does not guarantee disaster relief assistance.”
Even so, the count only reflects the homeowners who report. If your roof, gutters, siding, or trees took damage, filing takes less time than reading this page.
Watch: The July 27 Storm as It Happened
All three clips were shot here, by us, on the day. No stock footage.
La Grange Highlands, minutes after the sirens. Straight-line wind, filmed near Burr Ridge and Countryside.
Hail coming down in La Grange. A few miles west, stones reached 2.5 inches.
Matt Balducci, same day: what to check on your roof and why you should never sign at your door.
Confirmed Tornadoes and Damage Reports
The NWS finished its damage surveys the week after the storm and raised the confirmed tornado count from two to seven. Three of them touched down in DuPage County. The Downers Grove tornado was the last to be confirmed, on July 30, after the office initially attributed that damage to straight-line winds.
| Tornado | Rating | Peak winds | Path |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wheaton | EF-0 | 75 mph | 1.0 mile, 100 yards wide, 11:55 to 11:57 AM |
| Glen Ellyn | EF-0 | 75 mph | 0.9 mile, 75 yards wide, 11:55 to 11:57 AM |
| Downers Grove | EF-0 | About 85 mph | About 2 miles, tracking south along Main Street |
| Romeoville | EF-0 | About 80 mph | About 2.6 miles, crossed the Lewis University campus |
| Orland Park | EF-0 | About 85 mph | About 2.9 miles |
| Country Club Hills to Glenwood | EF-1 | About 110 mph | About 11.4 miles, also Hazel Crest, Markham, Harvey, Homewood |
| Lynwood to Munster, Indiana | EF-1 | About 110 mph | About 3.7 miles, also Lansing |
Tornadoes were not the main event, though. The NWS attributes most of the damage to straight-line winds, and that is what crossed the western suburbs. Senior meteorologist Brett Borchardt put it plainly: “DuPage was hit hard by multiple rounds of severe storms.”
Here is the hail, town by town, from trained spotter reports. Note the times. Most of this fell inside a 30-minute window, and Naperville took a second round that night.
| Town | Hail size | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Westmont | 2.5 inches, baseball | 12:18 PM |
| Clarendon Hills | 2.0 inches, hen egg | 11:56 AM |
| Downers Grove | 1.75 inches, golf ball | 12:15 PM |
| Lisle | 1.5 inches, ping pong ball | 12:14 PM |
| Glendale Heights | 1.5 inches, ping pong ball | 12:11 PM |
| Darien | 1.0 inch, quarter | 12:26 PM |
| Naperville | 1.0 inch, quarter | 10:23 PM, second round |
Hail was not the only problem. Here is the rest of it.
| What happened | Where |
|---|---|
| Straight-line winds 60 to 80 mph | Along the I-355 corridor |
| Storm track through the western suburbs | Carol Stream, Glen Ellyn, Downers Grove, Woodridge, Darien, Burr Ridge |
| Flooding, hail, downed wires at nine locations | Hinsdale, per the village’s own July 27 report |
| Peak straight-line winds of 80 to 90 mph | Southern Cook and eastern Will counties, including Chicago Heights and Sauk Village |
| About 320,000 ComEd customers without power | Region-wide Monday evening, with 29,870 still out in DuPage on Tuesday afternoon |
| Nearly 1,000 flights canceled or delayed | O’Hare and Midway combined |
One note on the hail. The biggest stones fell in a narrow band through Westmont and Clarendon Hills, and photos residents shared showed hailstones larger than a peach. Two streets over, homeowners saw almost nothing. That is normal for hail, and it is the reason a neighbor saying “we were fine” tells you very little about your own roof. It also explains the spread in that table: 2.5 inches in Westmont and 1 inch in Darien, nine miles apart, eight minutes apart.
Wind Damage vs. Hail Damage: What to Look For
After 60 to 80 mph wind
- Shingles lifted, creased, or missing entirely, especially along ridges and edges
- Broken shingle seals that let the next rain drive water underneath
- Damaged or detached gutters, downspouts, and fascia
- Tree limbs on the roof, even small ones, which can puncture shingles on impact
After 1.75 to 2.5 inch hail
- Bruises and dark spots where granules were knocked away
- Cracked or split shingles, sometimes only visible up close
- Dented gutters, downspouts, and roof vents, the easiest damage to spot from the ground
- Granules collecting in gutters and at downspout exits
Keep in mind: dented gutters after hail almost always mean the shingles above took the same hits. If you can see gutter dents from the ground, an inspection is worth your time.
What This Damage Actually Looks Like
These are our own inspection photos from western suburbs roofs after the storm. Look at how ordinary most of it is. That is the point. None of this is visible from the driveway, and most of it will not leak until the next heavy rain.
Want your roof documented like this, at no cost?
Call (630) 827-8732What to Do Now: The 5 Steps
The Storm Response Desk process is simple: inspect, tarp and document, repair. Here is the homeowner version.
- Handle safety first. Stay away from downed lines and report them to ComEd. Do not climb on your own roof.
- Look from the ground. Missing shingles, dented gutters, granules at downspouts, limbs on the roof. Photograph anything you see, with dates.
- If water is coming in, treat it as an emergency. Move belongings, catch the water, and call us at (630) 827-8732. Our emergency leak response runs 24/7, and tarping stops the damage from spreading tonight.
- Get a professional inspection before you file anything. A free HomeHero inspection documents everything with photos and gives you an honest read: repair, insurance claim, or no action needed. If a repair will do the job, that is what we will tell you.
- Do not sign anything at your door. Which brings us to the next section.
The Storm Chaser Warning (Read This Before You Sign Anything)
Every major storm brings out-of-state trucks into our neighborhoods within 48 hours. Some are legitimate. Many are not. Here is the test that matters, and it has nothing to do with how friendly the salesperson is.
A warranty is a promise to still be here. If a company from Ohio or Texas installs your roof and it leaks in year five, they are two states away, and coming back was never part of their business model. That is not an insult, it is just their economics. A local roofer’s economics are the opposite: our 10-year transferable workmanship warranty only works because we live where we work and plan to keep it that way.
Fast red flags after a storm
- They knocked on your door within days of the storm
- Out-of-state plates or no local office you can visit
- Pressure to sign an “inspection agreement” or contingency contract on the spot
- They offer to cover your deductible (this is insurance fraud in Illinois)
- No Illinois roofing license number on their paperwork
The full breakdown is in our guide: local roofer vs. storm chaser. And before you hire anyone, including us, take two minutes to verify their Illinois roofing license. Ours are #104.019924 and #105.010799.
Three Illinois rules worth knowing before you sign
Illinois law gives you more protection than most homeowners realize, and storm chasers count on you not knowing it. The Attorney General’s office publishes all of this, and it is worth two minutes of reading before anyone hands you a contract.
- Anything over $1,000 requires a written contract. Under the Home Repair and Remodeling Act, that contract has to name the contractor, the address, the phone number, the work, the start and completion dates, the total cost, and the payment schedule.
- You get three business days to cancel. If you signed at your home, you can back out within three business days, even if work has already started. Homeowners over 65 get up to 15 business days.
- You are owed a consumer rights document. For projects over $1,000, the contractor has to give you the Home Repair Consumer Rights pamphlet before you sign.
Read the full protections on the Illinois Attorney General’s home repair fraud page. Their storm chaser red flags match ours almost line for line: door-to-door solicitors with no local ties, below-market pricing, a phone number or P.O. box instead of an address, demands for cash or full prepayment, and requests to make checks out to a third party.
Help Close By in Western Cook County
The July 27 storm hit hardest in some of the towns we know best: La Grange, La Grange Park, Western Springs, Countryside, and Brookfield. Here is the part worth knowing. Weeks before this storm, we signed the lease on our second office in downtown La Grange, opening this August.
Our co-founder Andre grew up in the La Grange area, went to Riverside Brookfield, and lives here today. He watched this storm from his own driveway. And the timing is not a coincidence. Illinois has led the nation in tornadoes two years running, and NBC Chicago reported the state broke its all-time annual record back in June, before summer storm season had really started. WGN put the count at 188 by late July, against a historical average near 54. Storm seasons here are getting harder, and that is exactly why a second office made sense: same free inspections, same no-deposit policy, same 10-year transferable warranty, now with crews minutes from the La Grange area and western Cook County.
What Neighbors Said After This Storm
Every review below was left in the days after July 27, on three different platforms. We did not pick the flattering ones. We picked the ones that show what the work actually looked like, including the inspection that found nothing wrong.
“Professional honest local company. Franco provided great insight. No pressure. Nothing serious after roof inspection and no pressure tactics.”
Cindi S., Naperville, Illinois. Yelp review, July 31, 2026
“We had Home Hero Roofing replace our roof shingles after storm damage. They were able to complete the job in one day and did a great job. They cleaned up the yard and did a great job. They were responsive to our questions and explained the process thoroughly. I would recommend them wholeheartedly.”
Roxanne V. BBB review, July 28, 2026
“We chose Home Hero Roofing to repair torn shingles after reading through their customer reviews, and we’re very glad we did. They were professional, responsive, arrived on time, completed the repair with great workmanship, and cleaned up everything afterward.”
Wendy C. Google review, July 2026
The first one is the one worth sitting with. Cindi called us out to Naperville after the storm, we inspected the roof, and we found nothing serious. No work sold. That outcome is roughly a third of our storm inspections, and it is the whole reason the other two reviews exist.
These are three of the 380+ reviews behind our 5.0-star average across Google, Thumbtack, Yelp, BBB, Angi, Facebook, Zillow, and Nextdoor.
Hail, Wind, and Insurance: How the Claim Process Actually Works
Not every roof that took hail needs a claim, and filing one you do not need can cost you. Here is the honest sequence we walk homeowners through.
- Inspection first, claim second. We document the damage with photos before you ever call your insurer. If the damage will not clear your deductible, we will say so, and you skip the claim entirely.
- If a claim makes sense, the documentation does the arguing. Dated photos, measurements, and an itemized scope give your adjuster something concrete to approve.
- Your deductible is yours. Anyone offering to “waive” or “cover” it is committing insurance fraud in Illinois and putting you at risk with them.
- Storm damage from July 27 is a dated event. Insurers care about when damage happened. Getting your inspection documented now, while the event is fresh and official reports exist, makes any future claim cleaner. Our storm damage repair team handles this documentation on every inspection.
July 27 Storm Damage FAQ
Water inside your home, daylight visible through the roof, or a tree limb through the deck are emergencies: call (630) 827-8732 and we will tarp it, day or night. Missing shingles or dented gutters with no active leak can wait for a scheduled free inspection, usually same day or next day.
Hail under 1 inch rarely damages a healthy asphalt roof. But straight-line winds of 60 to 80 mph crossed the I-355 corridor on July 27, and wind damage is the kind you cannot see from the ground. Hail also falls in narrow bands, so your street can look untouched while the next block over lost granules. A free inspection settles it either way, and you pay nothing.
Yes, and it happens often. Roughly a third of storm inspections end with “your roof is fine” or a small repair. If a repair will do the job, that is what we will tell you. A Naperville homeowner left us a five-star review on July 31 for exactly that outcome: inspection done, nothing serious found, nothing sold.
Same-day or next-day inspections are standard, and emergency tarping runs 24/7. During the post-storm rush we prioritize active leaks first, then work through scheduled inspections town by town.
After. An inspection tells you whether the damage clears your deductible and gives you dated photo documentation. Filing first, without evidence, can mean a denied claim on your record for damage that never justified one.
The National Weather Service confirmed seven tornadoes, including EF-0 tornadoes in Wheaton, Glen Ellyn, and Downers Grove. Hail reached 2.5 inches in Westmont, 2 inches in Clarendon Hills, and 1.75 inches in Downers Grove, with smaller hail in Lisle, Darien, and Naperville. Straight-line winds ran 60 to 80 mph along the I-355 corridor, and about 320,000 ComEd customers lost power. Cook County issued a disaster proclamation on July 30.
You are not required to, but it helps. Cook County’s resident damage survey closes August 5, and the county uses the totals to determine whether the area qualifies for state and federal disaster assistance. It does not replace filing with your insurance company and it does not guarantee you any assistance. It takes a few minutes.
Three business days under Illinois law, even if the work has already started, and up to 15 business days if you are over 65. Any home repair project over $1,000 also requires a written contract and a consumer rights pamphlet. The Illinois Attorney General’s office publishes the full rules.
Free Storm Damage Inspections, Running Daily
Photo documentation, an honest answer, and no deposit ever. Most inspections are same day or next day.
(630) 827-8732
Schedule Your Free InspectionWhere These Numbers Come From
Every figure on this page traces to a public source. Check them yourself.
- NWS Chicago: July 27, 2026 event summary Official tornado confirmations, ratings, damage survey maps, and rainfall totals. Still being updated as surveys are finalized.
- Cook County disaster proclamation, July 30, 2026 Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s proclamation and the list of hardest-hit communities.
- Daily Herald: “DuPage was hit hard” Storm track through the western suburbs, I-355 corridor wind speeds, and DuPage outage counts.
- CBS Chicago: seven tornadoes confirmed The full tornado list including the July 30 Downers Grove confirmation.
- NBC Chicago: Illinois leads the nation in tornadoes Illinois broke its all-time annual tornado record in June 2026.
The Cook County damage survey and the Illinois Attorney General’s home repair page are linked in full above, in the August 5 deadline box and the storm chaser section.
Last updated August 3, 2026. The NWS is still finalizing damage surveys, so tornado counts and ratings may change. We update this page as confirmations land.
