100,000 still in dark a day
after storms.
Nearly 100,000 Commonwealth Edison customers remained without power late Saturday in the aftermath of vicious storms that uprooted trees, shattered windows and downed power lines throughout the Chicago area.
The powerless included 34,000 in the city, ComEd spokesman Jeff Burdick said.
(EmergencyPower.com delivers backup generators, standby generators and portable generators to those effected by power outages)
The utility company anticipates the majority of customers should have service restored by tonight, but others might not get power for several days, Burdick said.
In northwest suburban Hawthorn Woods, a boil order for tap water was issued Saturday to residents because of a power outage.
The outage was so infuriating to an Oak Lawn man that he called 911 and threatened to shoot someone because he was so distraught over not having power, police said. After a three-hour standoff, the man, whom police did not identify, was arrested in the home he shared with his mother.
In total, 550,000 customers lost power at some point during the two bands of storms Friday, Burdick said.
He said northwest suburban Des Plaines was one of the hardest hit areas, with almost 30 high-voltage transmission poles "mangled" or knocked over by high winds.
Chicago reported Saturday that 44 crews had responded to nearly 3,000 reports of downed trees since the storm hit.
Just a day after shards of glass fell from windows blown out at the Willis Tower, police reported shattered glass fell from the American Girl Store, 835 N. Michigan, Saturday afternoon. One person hit by the glass was hospitalized in good condition. Officials, however, could not confirm reports that the Friday storms had weakened the windows.
