Kamil Seremak describes helping people after his condominium building roof blew off in Mount Prospect during a severe thunderstorm (CARDINAL NEWS). YouTube Tips ⓘ
Police, firefighters, and paramedics from Mount Prospect responded about 4:51 p.m. Saturday, August 16, 2025 to a report that the roof blew off a 4-story condominium apartment building at a Lakeside Condominiums building, 701 Huntington Commons Road in Mount Prospect. A large amount of roof debris crashed down to the ground and parking lot on the south side of the building, severely damaging several vehicles. Smaller pieces of debris was scattered 400 to 500 feet in an open field south of the damaged building.
The time of the roof damage estimated by weather radar analysis was 4:35 p.m.
The fire department confirmed there are 60 total condo units in the building that lost the roof. Most of the top floor of the building lost the roof, resulting in the sky showing through 4th floor windows viewed from ground level. Water flowed onto the 4th floor from broken pipes, and falling rain. One resident, Emilia, reported a wall of rain and hail — the most rain she had ever seen in the neighborhood since moving to a condominium building located across the street from the building that lost the roof. Magda, who also lives across the street, reported seeing the roof go up and down before completely blowing off the building. She was located at the condominium building north of the damaged building during the high winds.
According to Kamil Seremak, who rescued his girlfriend and other residents from the damaged building before firefighters arrived, the condominium association recently had a new roof installed on the damaged building. He entered the damaged building after his girlfriend called him while he was in his car to tell him that the roof was torn off the building. He described that was water flowing down from the broken ceiling above when he entered the building. He also arrived home to find the van he uses for his business destroyed with the van’s roof caved in by a heavy piece of wood structure.
Emilia and Magda describe storm conditions when roof blew off the condominium building across the street from where they live in Mount Prospect (CARDINAL NEWS). YouTube Tips ⓘ
Firefighters and inspectors from the Mount Prospect Building Department checked the building for structural damage and collapse risk, and kept residents that had just evacuated away from the building. Residents were initially sheltered at RecPlex, which is located just south of the field where the scattered debris covered the grass south of the damaged building. Initially as of Saturday evening, there were no known injuries.
Firefighters and paramedics from Arlington Heights and Elk Grove Village were also assigned to the scene on Huntington Commons Road. Nicor was also on the scene to secure gas lines. Private construction restoration crews were also on the scene within a couple of hours.
The storm moved from northwest to southeast, passing through Arlington Heights, before causing the damage at the Lakeside Condominiums building. Some ominous clouds were visible over Arlington Heights, and a large tree snapped at the trunk on Ridge Avenue just south of Campbell Street. Forestry crew members from the Arlington Heights Public Works Department were clearing the downed tree that blocked Ridge Avenue within an hour after the storm hit. However, more concentrated damage to trees occurred near Golf Road and Route 83 in Mount Prospect, and in parts of Des Plaines, Elk Grove Village, Niles and Park Ridge.
Storm over Arlington Heights, which also split the trunk of a large tree on Ridge Avenue south of Campbell Street, before moving southeast and causing the condo building roof damage in Mount Prospect (CARDINAL NEWS). YouTube Tips ⓘ
According to the NWS Office Chicago, multiple rounds of thunderstorms occurred in the area from the afternoon of August 16, 2025 through the early morning hours of August 17, 2025.
An afternoon round of storms on August 16, 2025 brought severe weather, with reports of large hail and swaths of wind damage to parts of the Chicagoland area.
Hot and humid conditions were observed prior to the arrival of the thunderstorms, with many locations seeing heat indices of 100 to 105°F.
An additional round of storms with torrential rainfall occurred during the early morning hours of August 17, 2025, and resulted in instances of flash flooding across western and southwestern parts of Chicago metro area.
A private weather station near Oswego reported a total 6.02″ for theday, with 5.42″ falling between 3:00 AM and 7:00 AM CDT on the 17th.
A few other personal weather stations near the heaviest axis of rainfall in the western Chicago suburbs recorded between 4 and 6 inches of rainfall — most of which fell early in the morning of August 17, 2025.
Many large trees were uprooted, large branches broken, and parts of corn fields flattened near Oak Lawn Farm (roughly Fabian and Kirk Roads).
Several tree limbs 8 to 12 inches in diameter were blown down near Mundhank Road and South Freeman Road.
Numerous tents blown around and destroyed at the Niles Founders Day festivities at Golf Mill Park, along with some downed trees — time estimated by radar at 4:40 p.m.
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