Storms Leave 270,000 Without Power

By Chuck Sudo in News on Jun 22, 2011 1:00PM

When last night's storms rolled in around 8 p.m. we shut off the baseball game that was being delayed because of it, turned off the lights and watched as it roared through full force. When the worst was over, we went outside Chicagoist headquarters and surveyed the damage. Not even a branch broke from a tree.

Others weren't so lucky. ComEd estimated over 273,000 customers were left without power last night. Most of the power outages were in the northern suburbs, with downed trees the culprit.

The storms also wreaked havoc with public transportation, as debris from uprooted trees stranded passengers on Metra trains and forcing the cancellation of flights at O'Hare and Midway Airports. Service to the Purple and Yellow Lines were affected; Yellow Line service is still out as of post time. Metra officials are saying to expect delays this morning.

Two people were in critical condition in an Evanston hospital when a tree crushed their car on the North side.