Power slowly getting turned back on in wake of storm

ComEd crews were expected to continue working today to restore power to about 64,000 homes and businesses that were still in the dark as of Sunday morning, in the wake of Friday's aggressive storms, including about 21,000 in the North suburbs.

Power had been restored to 450,000 customers in Chicago and surrounding suburbs by Saturday evening. The majority of homes and businesses still without power are in Chicago and the North suburbs, a ComEd spokesman said.

ComEd spokesman Jeff Burdick says the company has about 350 crews working to repair downed wires and damaged utility poles. ComEd expects to restore power to a majority of homes of by late Sunday - but some pockets of outages could take until Wednesday to fix, Burdick said.

The area was hit by two powerful storms Friday afternoon and night. The weather delayed flights at both O'Hare International and Midway airports, downed trees and power lines and damaged homes and businesses. It even blew out windows at the 110-story Willis Tower in Chicago.

The storm ignited a fire that destroyed a Palatine resale shop dedicated to victims of domestic violence, in what authorities believe was caused when lightning struck a transformer on a utility pole on the corner of the building.

Officials with the charity group, Women In Need Growing Stronger, or WINGS, talked Saturday of rebuilding and finding a temporary place to continue.

"I just stood there and cried. I couldn't believe it," said Rita Canning of WINGS. "It's a total loss. I don't think insurance will begin to cover it. I don't know what we're going to do. We're really going to have to rely on the community to help us pull through this."

The strong winds and torrential rains knocked down more than 15 telephone poles along Mannheim Road, a major thoroughfare in Des Plaines. One of the downed power lines fell onto a vehicle, stranding the driver in the vehicle until ComEd was able to shut off power to the line. No one was hurt.

The stretch of Mannheim between East Touhy Avenue and Pratt Avenue was still impassable Saturday as ComEd worked to restore power and repair structural damage, firefighters said.

The storm wreaked havoc on community festivals and outdoor sports activities, as well.

It also did its best to challenge businesses to stay open.

One such business, Costco in Schaumburg, lost power after the first storm hit. Working through the night, the store's staff contacted a vendor to secure an emergency generator, moved food into large refrigeration trucks and opened on time Saturday morning.

By late Saturday afternoon, Costco had sold out of one-line of generators, many of them going to homeowners still without power.

"We're committed to our customers during times of crisis," said Tyler O'Dwyer, assistant general manager for the Schaumburg store. "We're doing the best we can given the circumstances."