More than 72,000 without power in northern Illinois; power may not return until Saturday for some

February 23, 2023 at 7:04 am CST

Salt is spread on an icy section of a sidewalk at the McHenry County Administration Building in Woodstock on Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023, as a winter storm that produced rain, sleet, freezing rain, and ice moved through McHenry County. (Gregory Shaver — gshaver@shawmedia.com/Gregory Shaver for Shaw Media )

An ice storm that moved through northern Illinois on Wednesday has left more than 72,000 people without power, and service may not return until Saturday for some residents.

As of 11:50 a.m. Thursday, 72,870 ComEd customers were without power, according to the ComEd outage map. According to its website, ComEd expects to restore power to most of the area on Thursday, but may not be until as late as Saturday.

Here is a county-by-county breakdown of power outages according to ComEd:

McHenry County: 23,897

Winnebago County: 15,663

Kane County: 9,162

Cook County: 7,355

Lake County: 4,380

Boone County: 2,213

DeKalb County: 858

DuPage County: 288

Lee County: 19

City-wise, Rockford has the most customers affected with 6,584. Crystal Lake has 5,053 customers affected, which is nearly 27% of the city.

John Sahly

John Sahly is the digital editor for the Shaw Local News Network. He has been with Shaw Media since 2008, previously serving as the Northwest Herald's digital editor, and the Daily Chronicle sports editor and sports reporter.