Area recovers from storms; thousands still without power

Thousands of suburban residents still had no power Saturday in the wake of Friday's storms, but ComEd had reconnected the bulk of more than 121,000 customers in northern Illinois whose electricity had been knocked out.

Nearly 8,300 customers in the northern suburbs and 3,000 in the western suburbs still were without power as of 3 p.m. Saturday.

ComEd officials said it could take several days to fully restore power to some affected areas. With more than 275 crews working around the clock, the company was making steady progress and hoped to regain full power by noon Sunday, officials said. Areas that saw more extensive damage may take longer to repair.

Towns hardest hit included Lombard, Glen Ellyn and Bolingbrook. ComEd's online outage map showed several areas with between 3,000 and 10,000 customers still without power, including those towns, as well as Crystal Lake, as of 3 p.m.

"We greatly appreciate our customers' patience during this restoration effort," Terry Donnelly, a ComEd executive vice president, said in a statement. "We recognize that an outage of any duration is an inconvenience to our customers, and we are using every available resource to restore service as quickly as possible."

Flood warnings continued Saturday for the Des Plaines River near both Gurnee and Des Plaines, as well as the Fox River near Montgomery, according to the National Weather Service.

The weather also led to cancellation of parts of the Elk Grove Village RotaryFest on Saturday. Flooding issues prompted officials to cancel the parade and fireworks, but the carnival was open. Check www.elkgroverotary.com for news on Sunday's festivities.

Saturday's sunny reprieve may not last. The National Weather Service forecast predicts a slight chance of rain Sunday before a break from storms until Wednesday.

Friday saw a record rainfall of 3.97 inches at O'Hare International Airport, breaking the old record of 1.79 inches set in 1961. That brings the total monthly rainfall to 6.74 inches, placing June as the tenth wettest June on record - with 10 days left in the month, according to the National Weather Service.

Downed power lines should be reported to ComEd at 1-800-EDISON1 (1-800-334-7661). People are advised to stay away from power lines. For customers with prolonged outages, officials suggest turning off all appliances, including the furnace, water heater and water pump, leaving on a lamp to know when power is restored and keeping refrigerator doors closed as much as possible.