Power was restored to many customers in the Homewood-Flossmoor area on Tuesday following widespread outages after a derecho storm moved through on Monday afternoon.
However, there are still scattered outages throughout both villages, including one in Homewood near Ridge Road and Riegel Avenue that is affecting 621 customers, according to the ComEd online outage map.
ComEd estimates power will be restored there by Saturday at 6 p.m.
A ComEd update on the situation notes that power has been restored to more than 75 percent of customers in its service area.
The storm on Monday brought hurricane force wind gusts in excess of 90 miles per hour, nearly 4,300 lightning strokes, a tornado in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood and golf ball sized hail, according to the utility.
Crews have restored service to 660,000 customers. Approximately 197,000 customers remain without power Tuesday.
The storm caused significant damage across the service territory, including downed poles, broken lines and damage from uprooted trees and broken branches. ComEd expects to restore power to the majority of customers by Friday night, with some customer outages in pockets with the most significant damage lasting until Saturday.
“ComEd appreciates the patience of our customers following this severe storm,” said Terry Donnelly, president and COO. “The damage from this storm was significant. As we continue to restore power to customers in hard hit communities, the safety of our customers and our crews remains our top priority.”
ComEd offers the following tips and information for customers to stay safe following severe weather:
- Anyone who encounters a downed power line should immediately call ComEd at 1-800-334-7661 or go to ComEd.com to report the location. Spanish-speaking customers should call 1-800-955-8237.
- Never approach a downed power line. Always assume a power line is energized and extremely dangerous.
- In the event of an outage, do not approach ComEd crews working to restore power to ask about restoration times. Crews may be working on live electrical equipment and the perimeter of the work zone may be hazardous.
Earlier technology issues with the phone system, website and text reporting tools have been largely resolved, although there may be some intermittent interruptions as the systems become fully operational.
ComEd urges customers to contact the company immediately if they experience a power outage. Customers can text OUT to 26633 to report an outage and receive restoration information, and can follow the company on Twitter @ComEd or on Facebook at Facebook.com/ComEd.
In Flossmoor, where tree damage appeared to be significant in the Flossmoor Road/Governors Highway area, public works crews are continuing cleanup work, including removing hanging branches in parkway trees, collecting downed limbs in the street or parkway and picking up brush set out by homeowners that follow the Village’s brush collection requirements.
Branches must be stacked in a pile on the parkway, with cut ends facing the curb, and placed away from parkway trees, mailboxes, utility poles/boxes, sidewalks and hydrants.
- Maximum diameter: 6 inches.
- Maximum length: 12 feet.
- Brush piles should not be bundled in any way (string, twine, wire, zip ties, etc.).
- Brush should not be placed in containers.
- Brush must not overhang into the street or sidewalk.
- Do not pile higher than 4 feet.
- Do not pile wider than 20 feet.
Residents who have significant damage to a tree not in the parkway will need to call a private contractor, landscaper or tree removal company.
Village crews will collect brush that follow these requirements throughout the week, potentially into next.
Damage to parkway trees can be reported to the Flossmoor Public Works Department at 708-957-4100. Any non-parkway tree must be taken care of by a private landscaper or tree removal company.