CHICAGO (WLS) — The Chicago area is undergoing a second day of dangerous high temperatures Thursday, with heat index values over 100. Some storms are also rolling through the area.
Much of the area remains under a Heat Advisory until 10 p.m. Thursday.
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High temperatures forecast for the area are in the mid 90s, with a heat index between 100-108 degrees.
A Severe Thunderstorm Warning was issued for Cook, Kendall and Will counties in Illinois and Lake County, Indiana until 3:30 p.m.
A Severe Thunderstorm Warning was issued for DuPage and Will counties until 3 p.m.
A Severe Thunderstorm Watch was issued for Cook, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, LaSalle and Will counties in Illinois and Benton, Jasper, Lake, Newton and Porter counties in Indiana until 9 p.m.
ABC7 AccuWeather Meteorologist Jaisol Martinez says there could be isolated storms in the afternoon, with the main window for storms being between 5-10 p.m.
How to stay cool in Chicago area amid rising temperatures this summer: LIST
There is a ground stop at O’Hare and Midway airports until about 3:45 p.m.
Chicago Power Outages
As the temperature climbs once again, people are enjoying some much needed AC after going without it.
The sweet sounds of working AC units silently hum on Drummond Street, near LeClaire Avenue in the city’s Belmont Cragin neighborhood.
Power is back after residents went without it for hours overnight, as temperatures hovered at uncomfortable levels during this heat advisory.
“Oh no, not now. It was way hot. No way to turn on a fan,” said Joann Maldonado, who lost power.
Joann Maldonado spoke with ABC7 after power was restored and described how she felt inside her home.
“Very stuffy to the point I walked out the back door, opened the back door to see how it was outside and it was pretty much the same,” she said.
“I said, ‘it’s not us. Take a look. It’s the whole neighborhood,'” Robert Flores said.
Flores said he ended up sleeping on the couch overnight, trying to get some sleep in the heat before leaving on a big trip to Alaska Friday.
“I was worried that it would go too long; I didn’t want to be all exhausted and not get a good night’s sleep,” Flores said.
ComEd crews could be seen diligently working through the early morning hours, working to get power restored as quickly as possible.
“We done a lot of work to prepare our crews in order to be responsive to the hot summer weather,” ComEd Vice President of Operations Nichole Owens said.
Owens says there’s staffing around the clock to quickly respond to any outages.
“We have drilled this,” Owens said. “We have trained our employees how to respond to outages especially given these conditions to make sure customers are safe and also to make sure our crews are safe.”
According to the ComEd power outage map, there’s been substantial progress from earlier Thursday morning, when more than 800 customers in Cook County were without power.
The Chicago Office-Emergency Management is working to keep people out and about safe in the heat with cooling centers across the city. Cooling centers open at 9 a.m. Wednesday and Thursday and close at 5 p.m. both days, except for the South Kedzie Avenue location, which is open until 8 p.m.
People can also find relief from the heat in city libraries, police stations and park district buildings.
The best way to avoid heat-related illness is to limit your time outdoors, stay out of the sun and drink lots of water and fluids to remain hydrated. People should also check on relatives and neighbors, especially if they are elderly.
For those who can’t stay inside, or whose home is not sufficiently cooled, there areresources around Chicago to help.
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