Nearly two weeks after storms including dozens of tornadoes tore through northwest Illinois, south and southwest suburban communities are seeking resident and business property damage reports in hopes of receiving federal aid in their largescale cleanup efforts.

The villages of Flossmoor, Homewood and Thornton partnered with the Cook County Department of Emergency Management and Regional Security to release surveys to determine whether they are eligible for Federal Emergency Management Agency individual loan assistance or Small Business Administration disaster loans, according to Homewood village manager Napoleon Haney.

“Any aid to the residents would be critical, would be amazing,” Haney said. “They’re the ones that really need, that could really benefit from direct assistance.”

Cook County Department of Emergency Management and Regional Security Executive Director Ted Berger said Illinois saw at least 27 tornados, many of which touched down in the south and southwest suburbs, July 14 and 15. Thousands of people were left without power for several days and had to clear their properties of fallen trees, broken glass and other debris.

While 99.9% of ComEd customers had their power restored as of Thursday, the effects of extended outages and property damage incurred unexpected costs for residents and businesses as well as municipalities that could be offset by federal disaster funds, Berger said.

“When we reached the point where our communities felt that their needs were secured, there were no unmet needs for public safety support from the county, we were able to shift our attention to the process that we would refer to as recovery,” Berger said.

He said the federal government requires reports on the storm costs and communities’ needs for extra assistance within 30 days, leading them to begin work evaluating the areas that were most affected.

ostevens@chicagotribune.com