About 350,000 people remain without power Tuesday morning following Monday’s “derecho” -- a short, violent windstorm that pounded the Chicago area with hurricane-force winds.
The number of people left without power after the strong storms is the worst Commonwealth Edison has seen in at least 13 years, utility spokeswoman Arlana Johnson said early Tuesday.
As of 11 a.m. Tuesday, 350,000 ComEd customers were still without power.
It “could take several days” to restore power to some customers, ComEd spokesman Tony Hernandez said.
Crews from as far away as Missouri and Pennsylvania have been called in to help repair the damage, which zapped power to a total of 868,000 customers during the storm’s peak Monday.
Hardest-hit are the northern suburbs, where over 190,000 remain without power as of 11 a.m., according to ComEd. In the city and near west suburbs, 53,000 people are still affected, while 72,000 in the farther western suburbs and 30,000 people in the south suburbs were without power late Tuesday morning.
Nearly 900 crews are expected to be out working all day Tuesday to continue repairs, Hernandez said.
The Lake County Health Department said several of its Community Health Center facilities would remain closed Tuesday from the lack of power, and many suburban village websites were providing tips for their residents on how to cope with the high temperatures during the outage.
The City of Evanston in a press release said several cooling centers would be open across the city and that power would not be fully restored there until 5 p.m. Wednesday.
Service on the CTA was back to normal by Tuesday morning, with the exception of the No. 172 University of Chicago/Kenwood bus route, which was being rerouted temporarily near 53rd and Ellis because of a downed tree, a CTA spokeswoman said.
O’Hare Airport canceled more than 250 flights Monday, and Midway Airport also canceled some flights, according to the city’s Department of Aviation. The storms caused some airlines to experience lingering delays of 45 minutes to 60 minutes Monday night.
Since the storm, Chicago residents have reported more than 2,500 tree emergencies to 311, according to the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications. Of that total, as of about 8 p.m. Monday, more than 350 tree emergencies have been relieved, including more than 60 trees blocking streets.
The Chicago Department of Transportation reported 144 wires down, 70 poles damaged or down, and crews were working Monday night to restore street light outages and traffic signal outages.
Some of Chicago’s parks have experienced excessive damage with fallen or damaged trees, according to a release from OEMC. The city encourages residents to call their local Park District park to ensure it is open and safe.
“The city has personnel on the ground working diligently to address tree debris created by the storm,” Tom Byrne, commissioner of Streets and Sanitation, said. “We are asking for residents’ continued patience as we remove material from the public way.”
OEMC is advising residents to be aware of a hot weather pattern arriving later this week, and to take the necessary precautions to avoid heat-related emergencies.
According to forecasts, hot temperatures are expected for this coming weekend. In addition, higher than normal temperatures are expected over the next week, the OEMC release said.
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