A raging storm this morning knocked out power for some 704,000 people in northern Illinois, including parts of the Landmark coverage area. And because of the widespread outages, it could take multiple days before everyone is out of the dark.
The outages started at about 8:15 a.m., and about 576,000 people were still without power at 11 a.m., according to ComEd spokesman Tony Hernandez. He could not say how many homes were affected in Riverside, Brookfield and North Riverside, but said it could take a while before everything is back to normal.
Outages were widespread in Brookfield, according to police, as fallen tree limbs downed power lines. Brookfield village hall lost power and the police department reverted to generator power before electricity was restored.
North Riverside police characterized power outages in that village as sporadic, although power remained out for government offices at at the North Riverside Village Commons as of 1:30 p.m.
In Riverside, there were some businesses on Burlington Street without power this morning, and there were reports of scattered outages elsewhere.
“Because of the severity of the storm’s damage and the number of people who are out, we are looking at a multi-day restoration effort,” Hernandez said.
As many as 500 crews are out right now, working to restore power, and ComEd is asking neighboring utility companies to assist in the effort. The communities that will get first priority are those that have lost power at hospitals and police or fire stations.
— Marty Stempniak and Bob Uphues
