Chicago Area Local News

CHICAGO (CBS) ― Just under 10,000 Commonwealth Edison customers remained without power Saturday night after two severe thunderstorms ripped through the Chicago area on Friday.

Due to the widespread damage across ComEd's service territory caused by the two severe storms, ComEd crews worked around the clock to restore power to those affected by the outages. Between both storms, 245,000 people experienced issues with their power, ComEd spokesman Jeff Burdick said.

As of 9 p.m. Saturday, 9,934 people remained without power, including 1,586 in Chicago and 3,767 in the northern suburbs, Burdick said. In the western suburbs, 582 people were without power and 3,999 customers were still effected by the outages in the south suburbs.

West suburban Glen Ellyn, Lombard and Bolingbrook were the hardest hit by Friday's storms, and while ComEd anticipates most customers will be restored by noon on Sunday, those areas may take longer, ComEd spokeswoman Kim Johnson said.

The storms downed power lines, uprooted trees and damaged electric poles, ComEd spokeswoman Marie Turrell said.

At the height of the power outages Friday night, about 121,000 ComEd customers were without power.

SLIDESHOW: Storm Sweeps Through Chicago
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After Friday's storms families are sharing their stories of damage and near disaster. CBS 2's Mike Puccinelli reports, for one family, things could have been much, much worse.

Behrooz Akbarnia and his granddaughter narrowly escaped being crushed to death Friday when a tree came tumbling down in Glenview. They'd just pulled up to his daughter's house. The wind was howling and the rain was pouring when they tried to make it inside. But they didn't get far because as soon as they got out of the car, Akbarnia heard the crack of the trunk snapping. He ran away from the sound carrying 6-year-old Simia in his arms.

"The last branches hit me… so it couldn't be closer," Akbarnia said.

His forehead still bears the scrape marks from where the tree branches grazed his face.

"A second later and we would have been under that tree," Akbarnia said.

Akbarnia's son- in-law, Stewart Jester, saw and heard the tree fall.

"I couldn't see if the tree hit them or not," Jester said.

After the 70-year-old ash tree snapped and fell the worst part of the whole experience for Jester was not knowing if his father-in-law and daughter had survived. But then he heard a bad sound that never sounded so good.

"I heard a scream," Jester said. "It was my daughter screaming. Then I saw him taking her across the yard. So I knew they weren't trapped."

Just blocks away on Fir Street, the problem isn't downed trees but downed power lines.

Mandy Chiarieri says she doesn't expect to get power restored in time for a party she's been planning for six months.

"I'm supposed to have a bridal shower for 40 people tonight but we're going to have to do it by candle light," Chiarieri said.

Anyone who is experiencing a power outage should call 1-(800) EDISON1.

The storm system produced a dangerous "ring of fire" pattern, in which storms erupt in a violent ring around the edge of a high-pressure ridge.

It prompted officials to order a ground stop at O'Hare and Midway airports, under which no flights could arrive or depart until the system passed. But even afterward, delays at O'Hare reached more than two hours for all flights in and out of the airport. More than 200 flights were canceled due to weather.

Chicago Department of Streets & Sanitation spokesman Matt Smith said late Friday that department crews had responded to 350 tree emergencies, ranging from uprooted trees to downed or damaged tree limbs. Many of these incidents were concentrated in North Side neighborhoods near the lakefront, including portions of Uptown, Andersonville, Edgewater, Rogers Park and West Rogers Park.

The city department also received hundreds of reports of flooded basements and streets.

The storm also cut power to 35 traffic signals, damaged 12 light poles, and took down 10 wires, the department said. The streetlights went out on at least 17 blocks.

CBS 2's Mike Puccinelli and the STNG Wire contributed to this report.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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