Many McHenry County residents remain without power after severe thunderstorms ripped through the area.
A total of 144,000 ComEd customers throughout the Chicago region were without power as of noon, according to a ComEd spokeswoman. More than 340 utility crews have been deployed throughout the area.
Outages across the ComEd service area include 48,000 in the west region, 42,000 in the south region, 36,000 in the Chicago and Maywood region, and 18,000 in the north region.
The hardest hit area was Rockford and Aurora, according to ComEd. Reports of outages are still coming in.
Historically, with storms of this magnitude, restoring power to all those affected could take a couple days, ComEd spokeswoman Tabrina Davis said.
"Based on similar events, we hope to have 90 percent of power restored by Thursday, and the remaining pockets of outages back up by Friday evening," she said.
Dispatchers reported several downed power lines, damaged trees and power outages throughout the McHenry County area early this morning.
In Crystal Lake, Lincoln Parkway closed between Woodstock Street and Crystal Lake Avenue due to a tree limb on wires. Terra Cotta Road also closed between Route 176 and Crystal Lake Avenue for downed power lines.
The roadway near the intersection of Route 62 and Healy Road in Barrington Hills also closed due to a tree in the roadway.
While many still remained without power in Wauconda, the majority of roadways were open, according to the Wauconda Fire Protection District. A home near Williams Park did catch fire due to a lightning strike, but was extinguished with no injuries.
Crews in Woodstock continue to remove trees and reopen streets, according to Public Works Director John Isbell.
Bunker Road closed near the intersection of Schryver Avenue. McConnell Road has reopened after power lines were on the roadway.
Two sanitary sewer lift stations are also without power and are being operated with generators. The water booster station for the Bull Valley Golf Club subdivision is without power, but access is blocked by downed power lines so a generator cannot get to the site, Isbell said.
The primary electric feed for First Street was down, but fully operational due to the backup power feed.
A severe thunderstorm warning for McHenry County expired at 6:30 a.m. and a severe thunderstorm watch expired at 9 a.m., according to the National Weather Service.
Early morning radar indicated a line of severe thunderstorms capable of producing destructive winds of more than 70 mph, according to the weather service. The storms moved quickly through the area, hitting Kane and McHenry counties first, heading southeast at 55 mph.
“Residents can expect light rain to continue, but the worst of it this morning appears to be through McHenry County,” meteorologist Mike Bardou said. “There could be another chance for severe thunderstorms later this afternoon.”
Two separate wind estimates of 65 mph were reported in Woodstock, and a 67 mph gust was reported in Harvard. Early radar estimates show that the hardest hit areas may have received close to an inch of rain, while others less than .25 inches, Bardou said.
Thousands of residents are without power in Woodstock and many others throughout the area including Crystal Lake, McHenry, Fox River Grove and Wauconda, according to the ComEd website.
