Wednesday’s storm was enough for a co-worker to text all of us saying “OMG Mother Nature is angry!!” after she got home and the storm hit near Midway.
Thousands without power after storm hits area :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Metro & Tri-State
Severe storms passed through the Chicago area Wednesday evening and several funnel clouds were spotted in a storm that knocked out power to at least 220,000 Commonwealth Edison customers.
The National Weather Service is investigating reports of a tornado having touched down in Downers Grove about 5:30 p.m., although they had not yet confirmed it, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Ben Deubelbeiss, who said the service will not be able to confirm whether a tornado hit until Thursday morning.
No big deal by us, I said at the time. Then last night about 3:30 am, I was awakened by thunder and lightning, very very frightning. At 4:00 AM, all hell broke loose and sheets of rain were hitting the house. Rileycat was very, very tense and freaked out when I bumped into him in the dark as I went around looking out of windows. David got woken up about then by a huge crash of thunder, and he checked on things downstairs and unplugged computers – even though we have power strips and UPS’s on most of our major electronics.
And oh goodie, we’re not done yet.
Rain, lightning, thunder, high winds and power outages reappeared in Chicagoland overnight, making what has already been one of the wettest Junes on record even wetter.
After ComEd was finally able to repair damage done by storms early last week, the utility was faced with even more difficulty after the storms moved through the area around 4 a.m. this morning.
As of 9 a.m., according to ComEd spokesperson, 13,600 customers were without power in Chicago and the suburbs following the storm. In Chicago itself, there were 4,800 without power, 2,500 in the south suburbs, 600 in the western suburbs, and 5,700 in the northern suburbs.
That storm has moved southeast, and the weather outlook is calmer for the rest of the morning and afternoon, but it will be hot and humid, with highs expected to reach the 90s. And the rain hasn’t gone away completely — there’s a chance of a storm this afternoon, tonight, and tomorrow.