Over 102,000 ComEd customers remain without power Monday evening on the heels of a tornado outbreak across the Chicago area, with the National Weather Service reporting 17 confirmed tornadoes in northern Illinois and northwest Indiana on July 14-15.
Well over 60,000 customers remain without power in Cook County, with over 5,000 customers affected in Grundy County as well.
According to ComEd, 76% of the utility’s customers have had service restored, with 80% restoration expected by 3 p.m. Wednesday.
All customers are expected to have their power restored by Friday.
Following preliminary assessments that concluded at least five tornadoes were confirmed to have hit the region during Monday’s severe weather outbreak, the NWS confirmed four more tornadoes that impacted the Chicago area, including another EF-1 tornado in Chicago’s city limits.
The EF-1 twister featured winds of 90 miles per hour and followed a path of over three miles in Chicago’s Chicago Lawn and West Englewood neighborhoods.
The NWS confirmed two other EF-1 tornadoes, including one that traveled nearly five miles from Cedar Lake to Crown Point in Indiana.
Additionally, an EF-1 twister was confirmed in the southwest suburb of Justice, while an EF-0 tornado was confirmed to have touched down on a path of nearly eight miles from Sugar Grove to North Aurora.
One of the earlier confirmed tornadoes touched down on Chicago’s Near West Side and pushed toward the western portion of the Loop before lifting back into the clouds, officials said. The tornado was classified as an EF-1, which means it had estimated wind speeds of up to 110 miles per hour.
Two more EF-1 tornadoes also impacted the area, including one that struck near Channahon. That tornado is believed to have knocked down power lines that closed a section of Interstate 55, and also caused numerous accidents in the area.
A third EF-1 tornado struck in an area near Bristol and Oswego, officials said.
Two more tornadoes were also confirmed, and both were classified as EF-0, with maximum winds of 85 miles per hour. Those tornadoes struck in Illinois, with a touchdown confirmed near Justice and Bridgeview, and another occurred in Indiana, touching down near Crown Point.
In all, the National Weather Service is evaluating 29 different damage paths all across the area, according to officials. A total of 16 tornado warnings were issued for the Chicago area during Monday’s severe weather outbreak, which also brought wind gusts of up to 80 miles per hour to the region.