Wind knocks down tree branch onto car on Lake Shore Drive, causing mile-long backup

Traffic was diverted off of Lake Shore Drive over a mile south at Monroe Avenue.

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A fallen tree branch blocked all lanes of northbound Lake Shore Drive at North Avenue on Friday, May 28. 2021.

A fallen tree branch blocked all lanes of northbound Lake Shore Drive at North Avenue on Friday, May 28. 2021.

Sun-Times staff

Traffic on Lake Shore Drive was at a standstill Friday afternoon after wind knocked down a tree branch onto at least one car near North Avenue, sending a person to a hospital.

Firefighters and city forestry personnel were cutting up the tree in the northbound lanes in an attempt to remove it, according to Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford.

“The tree came down in the wind. It made a nice slice down the trunk of the tree. Half of it fell,” Langford said.

The tree hit at least one car, he said. Another car was damaged but it may have hit the other car.

Three people in the crash refused treatment, while one person was taken in good condition to Illinois Masonic Medical Center, Langford said.

Traffic was getting by in one lane after the crash.

Winds were gusting at 35 mph at O’Hare Airport on Friday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.

A high wave warning closed most of Chicago’s beaches to swimming on the first day they were to be reopened since closing over a year ago because of the coronavirus pandemic.

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