As severe thunderstorms pound northern parts of Illinois, more than 42,000 customers of ComEd, the largest electric utility in Illinois, have been left without power as of Tuesday evening, according to US media reports.

Currently, 42,717 customers are without power due to the fast-moving storms, with winds in excess of 60 miles per hour in some locations. More than 17,000 of those customers are located in McHenry County — the worst hit of all the counties, according to the latest data from the utility.

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Meanwhile, Winnebago and DeKalb each have in excess of 5,000 customers, currently, without electricity. In Cook, Kane, Boone and Lake counties around 9,000 customers combined are experiencing similar distressful situations. 

ComEd announced earlier Tuesday that it was opening its Emergency Operations Center, and was positioning equipment and additional crews to combat potential power interruptions as the storms approached the area, according to NBC reports.

The company has warned people from approaching downed power lines and urged residents to call 1-800-EDISON1 if they are cited.

Customers can also text the word OUT to 26633 to report outages and to receive updates on when power will potentially be restored. 

Meanwhile, after conducting damage surveys, the National Weather Service confirmed at least seven tornadoes touched down in northern Illinois.

“Severe storms with torrential downpours and tornadoes impacted northern Illinois yesterday. We will be out surveying damage today, and will provide information as it becomes available. Of course, we’re focusing on the potential for more severe weather this evening, too,” NWS Chicago tweeted and warned about potential severe weather conditions even today.

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Reportedly, the tornado could be seen coming from kilometres away by residents in the region. As it touched down, the swirling winds destroyed everything in its path.

The storms even prompted the air traffic control tower at O’Hare International Airport to be evacuated for about 20 minutes as severe weather passed through, the FAA said.