A Wednesday storm ripped the roof off a self-storage facility in Hinckley, Ill., sending building particles scattered and leaving the units vulnerable. The 11:30 p.m. gale demolished one of the two buildings at Hinckley Self Storage at 15331 Route 30. The structure contained 20 occupied units ranging in size, according to owner Gary Lambes Jr. The second building wasn’t damaged.
The roof flew over the adjacent Hinckley Floral Inc. shop and settled on Somanauk Road. The debris blocked the facility’s entryway and parking lot as well as Lambes’ custom stairway business, Step 1. Lambes guarded the units’ contents during the night until tenants could retrieve their items the next morning, he said.
Adam McClanahan had just moved an all-terrain vehicle and snowmobile into the unit on Wednesday, the source reported. He returned to the facility the next day to haul away his items and retrieve his $100 deposit. “I was totally amazed at how bad it was,” McClanahan said. “It was a shame. We’d just put all our stuff in there yesterday. I was a little nervous. I’m not going to lie. It’s a tragedy.”
Henry Meier was forced to dig through debris to find his items, he said. “I was pretty devastated. It’s not just my stuff in here. I share it with a couple of other people, and their stuff is damaged.” Meier also helped another tenant remove belongings from a unit.
An estimate on the property damage was unknown, but Lambes met with his insurance agent on Thursday morning. “I’ve got concerns for people in here recovering their goods when what’s left of the building is very unstable,” he said, adding the tenants signed a rental agreement that included a clause about self-insuring their belongings.
Additional damage at the site included a broken window and dents to the flower shop, holes in the Step 1 building, a downed tree and lost fencing. DeKalb County Sheriff Roger Scott reported the region suffered fallen debris, trees, wires and stop signs.
Sources:
- Daily Chronicle: Storm Rips Apart Storage Facility
