High winds play havoc on suburbs

High winds interrupted power after knocking down tree branches and power lines all over the area Tuesday night.

The National Weather Service issued a wind advisory warning of sustained winds around 20 to 30 miles per hour with potential wind gusts of up to 50 miles per hour for McHenry, Lake, Kane, DuPage, Cook and several other counties Tuesday.

ComEd reported that more than 500 but less than 3,000 customers lost power in the areas of Libertyville, Elgin, Mount Prospect and Crystal Lake, and over 3,000 ComEd customers in the Bolingbrook area reportedly lost power.

Accuweather Meterologist John Dlugoenski said the winds were at their peak Tuesday night and that they were expected to calm down Wednesday. Dlugoenski said the highest wind gust recorded as of 9:30 p.m. Tuesday was a 40 mile per hour gust at O'Hare International Airport, but added that there could have been gusts up to 50 miles per hour.

O'Hare Airport reported delays of 30 minutes or less and minor delays were also reported at Midway due to the high winds.

Carpentersville, Streamwood, Lake Barrington, Libertyville, Waukegan, Des Plaines and Rosemont were among the towns reporting power interruptions, downed branches or wires because of the winds Tuesday night.