A severe thunderstorm with hurricane-like winds knocked out electricity to more than 860 000 homes in the Chicago area on 11 July, making the blackout the largest power outage since 1998. The information came from officials of the utility company ComEd. As of midday on the same day, approximately 358 000 customers remained without power.
ComEd reported that power to about a half million customers had been restored, but that it would take several days for full restoration to take place.
The storm, which also caused damage in neighbuoring counties and states, was classified by meteorologists as a “derecho” – a short, violent windstorm with sustained straight line winds that can exceed 100 miles per hour. Winds from the storm on Monday registered at 75 miles per hour.
The storm came just two weeks after slightly less severe storms ravaged the region in late June. These are the latest in a series of similarly disastrous weather events in the USA. Already this year there have been several major power outages in the country due to violent weather, notably in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, following the April 27 tornado, which affected 700 000 people, a tornado that cut off 125 000 customers in Detroit over the Fourth of July holiday, and another around Joplin, Minnesota, that cut off 65 000 people, also in April.
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