Power outages reported in Chicago area as severe weather moves in

Officials say that nearly 5,000 ComEd customers are without power on Wednesday afternoon as severe weather begins to move into the area.

According to the latest numbers released by the utility company, 4,789 customers are without power because of the storms, which are causing serious lightning and wind gusts in excess of 50 miles per hour.

Of those, 4,360 are in Cook County, with just under 200 in Lake County in Illinois, according to officials.

 Severe weather is expected to continue through much of the afternoon and the early evening, with the area at a “slight” risk of severe storms, per officials.

Stay tuned for all the latest details.

from NBC Chicago https://ift.tt/Jfp5odx