Thousands of people were without power in McHenry County Wednesday evening after afternoon storms rolled through the area.

The ComEd outage map reported more than 6,300 customers were without power as of about 4 p.m. Wednesday. Outages were reported throughout the county, causing extra inconvenience for those who also lost their air-conditioning.

A severe thunderstorm watch was in effect for the county until 7 p.m. Wednesday.

Huntley police also put out an alert at about 4 p.m. Wednesday telling people to avoid the intersection of Mill and Dean streets because of downed lines.

The Woodstock Fire/Rescue District said on Facebook around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday it was responding to multiple weather-related incidents as storms moved through. Crews were working on downed trees, power lines and other storm-related hazards.

The fire department said people should use caution when traveling and avoid areas where emergency personnel are working. People should avoid downed power lines and anything it may be touching.

“Always assume downed wires are energized and dangerous, and report them to 911 immediately,” the department said.

Metra also reported various delays because of high wind warnings, including on the UP Northwest line that runs between Harvard and Ogilvie station downtown.

More severe weather is expected for Thursday throughout the northern Illinois region, and the threat level is at 3 of 5.

Two windows of severe thunderstorms are forecast. The National Weather Service said Wednesday morning that the first window was generally 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and northwest of a line from Dixon to Crystal Lake. The second window is areawide and the time of greatest concern, the weather service said. That time frame is generally 3 to 9 p.m.

Potential severe weather hazards include tornadoes, destructive winds equal to or greater than 75 mph, flash flooding and destructive hail, equal to or greater than two inches in diameter.