CHICAGO — ComEd is gearing up for any potential power outages on Monday as a round of storms brings severe weather threats to Chicagoland.
Officials from ComEd said the Utility provider is readying crews and equipment for the latest round of potentially severe weather.
As of 11 p.m., ComEd reports nearly 3,500 outages, affecting more than 303,000 customers.
“For the third time in as many days, we are preparing our people and our system to withstand another round of severe weather. Despite the high winds and thousands of lightning strikes from two separate storms over the weekend, our modernized grid and skilled employees swiftly responded to minimize the impact and safely restore power,” ComEd EVP and COO Dave Perez said in a news release. “We recognize that any outage is frustrating to our customers, and we thank everyone for their patience as we work to safely repair damaged equipment and restore service to our customers as quickly as possible.”
ComEd officials say in the event of an outage, crews who work to restore power will prioritize critical facilities, like police and fire stations, nursing homes and hospitals, before moving on to areas with the greatest number of customers.
Storms are expected to into Chicagoland from the northwest to the southeast between 6 p.m. to 1 a.m.
The storms could bring destructive winds, heavy rain and even some tornadoes.
Monday’s severe weather threats come after two days of intense storms that brought heavy rains and strong winds to parts of Chicagoland.
On Saturday night, a storm left behind a path of damage in Joliet.
Another round of storms swept through northeastern Illinois on Sunday night. Crews with the city’s Department of Streets and Sanitation spent Monday morning tending to ‘hundreds’ of emergency tree calls.
Officials from the National Weather Service later confirmed that three EF-0 tornadoes touched down on Chicago’s South Side and in Kane County.
ComEd officials said that more than 140,000 customers were without power following the weekend storms, and crews had restored power to more than 130,000 of those customers by 3 p.m. Monday.
What can residents do during a power outage?
Residents who experience power outages are advised to contact ComEd immediately about the issue.
Customers have several options to report outages and receive information about restoration times. Impacted customers can text OUT to 26633 (COMED), call 1-800 EDISON1 (1-800-334-7661), or visit the ComEd website to report outages.
Spanish-speaking customers can call 1-800-95-LUCES (1-800-955-8237) to report outages.
According to ComEd, thanks to smart grid upgrades that began back in 2011, the utility provider’s overall reliability has improved by more than 70% and over 21 million outages have been avoided.
Visit the ComEd website to view the outage map for details on which areas are experiencing outages and how many customers are impacted.