Severe storms leave thousands without power in Kankakee, NW Indiana

KANKAKEE, Ill. - Severe storms that swept through parts of Illinois and Indiana Tuesday night left thousands of customers without power as crews worked to restore service across the region.

Illinois and Indiana power outages

What we know:

Utility provider ComEd reported 64 active outages across northern Illinois early Wednesday, affecting about 4,270 customers. The vast majority of the outages were concentrated in Kankakee County, where 4,153 customers were without electricity, about 8% of the county’s roughly 50,600 ComEd customers.

In northwest Indiana, NIPSCO reported 5,513 customers without power following the storms. The largest concentrations of outages were reported in Lake Village, where 1,574 customers were affected, followed by Gary with 790 outages and DeMotte with 780.

The backstory:

The outages came after powerful thunderstorms moved through the region Tuesday, producing destructive hail and suspected tornadoes. The National Weather Service said the storms were likely spawned by a single supercell that tracked from near Pontiac, Illinois, through Kankakee County and into northwest Indiana before continuing toward Knox, Indiana.

Two people were killed by a tornado in Newton County, Indiana. They have not yed been identified.

The NWS said the storm may have produced at least four tornadoes along its path, including possible touchdowns near Pontiac and south of Kankakee in Illinois, as well as Lake Village and Wheatfield in Indiana.

The same storms also produced significant hail. Forecasters said hail measuring 2 to 4 inches in diameter fell along a corridor from Pontiac to the Illinois-Indiana state line. A trained spotter in Kankakee reported a hailstone measuring 6 inches in diameter, which could become a new Illinois state record if it is verified.