615,000 Without Power After Morning Thunderstorms
By Chuck Sudo in News on Jul 11, 2011 3:00PM
Now that was a brief but impressive round of thunderstorms this morning. All of a sudden it went from just a slight cackle of static on the AM dial to 75 MPH wind gusts and pitch black clouds. The street lights are still on outside Chicagoist's Bridgeport headquarters. We just watched as the rain slammed into our apartment building, the drops flying through the air.
The heavy winds forced Metra to stop running trains on the Union Pacific North Line, Northwest Line and West Lines. CTA is reporting Purple Line service has been suspended and major service delays on all other train lines except the Yellow Line, which is starting to return to normal. O'Hare International Airport is reporting flight delays of 45 minutes and 100 canceled flights. Midway Airport, where the 75 MPH gust was recorded, has delays of 50 minutes and longer and one cancellation. Over 600,000 ComEd customers are without power as of 9:35 a.m. with the northern suburbs being the hardest hit.
Sorry for those of you who were caught in this. We do want to see your photos.