ComEd is activating its Emergency Operations Center and is positioning equipment and crews to deal with potential power outages ahead of severe weather that could impact parts of northern Illinois Wednesday night and into Thursday.
In a press release, the utility company announced that it would work to place equipment in potentially-impacted areas, and would put additional crews on standby ahead of the forecasted storms, which could pack gusty winds in excess of 50 miles per hour and frequent lightning.
Those storms, developing in Minnesota and Wisconsin, have the potential to sweep to the southeast on Wednesday night, impacting the northern suburbs of Chicago and areas along the shores of Lake Michigan before moving down toward northwest Indiana.
Gusty winds, frequent lightning, small hail and isolated tornadoes are possible, according to a hazardous weather alert from the National Weather Service.
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With those storms on the way, ComEd is reminding customers that its priority is to restore power to facilities like hospitals, nursing homes, police and fire stations. They will then aim to service areas with greater numbers of customers, and will finish off any remaining outages after that.
If residents see downed power lines, the utility urges the public to call ComEd at 1-800-EDISON-1. Residents are also reminded never to approach downed power lines, and are asked not to approach crews to ask about restoration times for power, since crews may be working on live electrical equipment.
ComEd customers can report outages by texting “OUT” to 26633. The company also posts information on outages on its website.
