A portion of a large tree on Stroble Avenue blocks the street after it broke off during last week's thunderstorm. The tree damaged power lines and caused outages to a large number of ComEd customers on the north side of Mendota. Other scattered power outages were also reported. (Reporter photo)

Much like the storm that raged through town in mid-June, another fast-moving thunderstorm swept into Mendota about 5 p.m. on July 23, producing similar results - downed trees and branches - which caused numerous power outages. ComEd spokesman Jim Fox said that 364 customers lost power in Mendota on Friday, nearly the same number that lost power in June, but that all electricity was restored in Mendota by Saturday morning.

One difference Fox noted with this most recent storm was the ability of ComEd to get power back on relatively quickly. He said crews were on standby and because most of the outages in the Dixon District were confined to Mendota and Paw Paw, which had 426 customers lose power, crews got to those areas quickly.

In the rural areas, Mendota Township reported 65 customers without power, Paw Paw Township reported 22 outages, East Grove had 40 customers lose power, as well as a few other isolated reports in the surrounding area.

Mendota Streets & Parks Department reported a few large trees down, one in the 1900 block of Stroble Avenue and a couple by the skate park at Lake Mendota, as well as numerous reports of downed branches. City crews are continuing to remove debris from the storm.

CoCoRaHS weather observer Pat Rod of Mendota reported .9 of an inch of rain fell in 25 minutes during the height of the storm and a total of 1.9 inches of rain fell in the 24 hours ending at 7:30 a.m. Saturday. Rod said that despite the heavy rain, the precipitation was absorbed quickly because the soil was so dry.