Severe storms swept across northern Illinois on August 11, 2026, leaving more than 287,000 ComEd customers without power as a dangerous line of thunderstorms brought winds exceeding 80 mph, large hail, and tornado warnings to the Chicago area. By the following morning, ComEd had restored power to approximately 275,000 of those customers, according to the Village of Homewood.
The storms caused widespread damage across multiple counties, including Cook, DuPage, McHenry, Lake, Kane, and Will. Downed trees and power lines scattered across residential streets and blocked roadways throughout the region, with the city of Joliet and surrounding communities reporting hazardous conditions that required immediate response from public works and emergency crews.
ComEd mobilized significant resources to address the outages. The utility deployed more than 2,300 personnel, including 500 contractors in some areas like Glenwood, to assess damage and restore service. Customers could report outages by texting OUT to 26633 (COMED) or calling 1-800-EDISON-1 (1-800-334-7661), and track estimated restoration times through ComEd.com/OutageTracker.
This August outage reflects the escalating pattern of severe weather affecting northern Illinois. In June 2026, a pair of destructive storms brought approximately 684,000 customer outages across two consecutive days, with ComEd restoring roughly 582,000 customers by June 12. A month later, in late July, another severe weather outbreak left over 525,000 customers without power, with ComEd estimating that 80 percent of customers would be restored within 36 hours, though some areas experienced extended outages lasting several days.
During major storm events, ComEd typically restores power within 2 to 4 hours for minor localized outages. However, when severe multi-county weather strikes—as was the case on August 11—restoration can extend for days. The utility has increasingly relied on mutual assistance from other utilities and contractor networks to manage the scale of damage, particularly when infrastructure damage includes broken poles and extensive downed wires across entire service areas.
Residents experiencing outages were urged to never approach downed power lines, which pose extreme danger. The August 11 storms reminded the Chicago area of the infrastructure challenges posed by severe weather, with lessons learned from earlier 2026 events informing ComEd’s response strategy and resource deployment.
Sources
- Daily Herald — reported more than 287,000 ComEd customers without power on August 11, 2026, following severe storms with tornado warnings and winds exceeding 80 mph.
- Village of Homewood — stated that as of the morning after the storms, ComEd had restored power to approximately 275,000 customers.
- Shaw Local (Herald-News) — documented more than 95,000 ComEd customers without power in Will County as of 11 a.m. on August 11, with downed trees and damage across Joliet, Lockport, Plainfield, and surrounding areas.
- ECIKS.org — detailed ComEd’s deployment of more than 3,000 personnel during the June 2026 storms that affected approximately 684,000 customers, and provided context on typical restoration timelines of 2 to 4 hours for minor outages versus extended timeframes for severe multi-county events.
- NBC Chicago — reported a severe weather outbreak in late July 2026 that left nearly 400,000 customers without power, with ComEd estimating 80 percent restoration within 36 hours.
