Overview
- Strong storms on Wednesday produced gusts over 70 mph that uprooted mature trees and brought down poles and wires across Chicago and nearby suburbs.
- ComEd said roughly 400,000 customers were affected and more than 130,000 remained without power in Thursday updates, and the utility warned some blocks may not see full restoration until Saturday.
- City officials reported thousands of tree emergencies, hundreds of traffic-signal outages and flooded viaducts, and crews from streets, transportation and utilities are focused first on clearing roads and protecting critical sites.
- The storms caused localized structural damage and displacement, including about 30 people forced from a partially uninhabitable Stickney condominium and multiple homes and vehicles hit by falling trees.
- Transit and gas systems were disrupted as Metra deployed generators and diversions and Peoples Gas said a broken gas main affected about 250 customers, underscoring how fallen trees can cascade into wider infrastructure failures.