More than 150,000 ComEd customers were still without power Friday morning as severe storms hammered the city and surrounding areas.
Tornadoes ripped through communities just to the south, east and west of Chicago, and hundreds of flights were canceled or delayed.
At Chicago airports, at least 115 flights were canceled and at 155 more were delayed at O’Hare, while at leat four were canceled and 32 more delayed at Midway as of 9:10 a.m. Friday.
Multiple tornadoes ripped through parts of Illinois and Indiana as severe storms moved through the area for a second straight day Thursday.
Officials were still working to confirm exactly how many tornadoes touched down, but they said suburban Bartlett and downstate communities of Dwight and Streator in Illinois were among the hardest areas hit by the storms. Northwest Indiana also experienced tornado damage.
Additionally, wind speeds reached 80 to 85 miles per hour in Oak Lawn while gusts were reported at 60 to 70 miles per hour closer to the city, according to the National Weather Service.
As of 9 a.m., over 153,000 ComEd customers remained without power, according to the company’s outage map.
Friday’s forecast is expected to provide momentary relief, though more severe storms are possible Saturday.
“it’s going to be mostly sunny skies, nothing like the past couple days,” said Brett Borchardt, a meteorologist with the weather service. “With that said, we are forecasting more storms tomorrow. Some of those could be severe, however, we’re not expecting anything close to what we experienced the past couple days.”