More than half a million without power in Chicago area, NW Indiana after severe storms – NBC 5 Chicago

More than half a million without power in Chicago area, NW Indiana after severe storms  NBC 5 Chicago

Intense storms left damage across the Chicago area and northwest Indiana and left more than half a million people without power on Tuesday. Videos and photos from across the Chicago area show the aftermath of severe storms, tornado warnings and straight-line winds. Strong storms across the Chicago area and northwest Indiana left more than half a million ComEd and NIPSCO customers without power on Tuesday. More than 280,000 ComEd customers and more than 280,500 NIPSCO customers were without power as of just before 1 p.m., according to outage data provided by the utility companies. Despite several hours of clean-up and restoration work, more than 194,000 ComEd customers and just over 290,000 NIPSCO customers were still without power as of 7:45 p.m.

The outages were triggered by an "intense line of storms" that moved across Illinois from Iowa and brought damaging winds and triggered tornado warnings in several counties throughout the late morning. As of Tuesday evening, National Weather Service crews confirmed at least two tornadoes touched down during the storms. Homewood, Chicago Heights, Lansing and Joliet were some of the areas in Illinois that were hardest hit, according to ComEd. ComEd crews are working around the clock to restore power to more than 370,000 customers impacted by this morning's severe storms. Homewood, Chicago Heights, Lansing and Joliet are among the