Chicago ice storm: Thousands still without power in north suburbs

MCHENRY COUNTY, Ill. - With thousands of customers still in the dark following outages amid Wednesday’s ice storm, utility crews are working around the clock to restore power.  

On Thursday, nearly 1,700 ComEd and contractor crews were dispatched to affected areas, including Crystal Lake.

In the meantime, residents were finding creative ways to stay warm.

"The majority of the use we’ve seen today has been from people who are without power," said Becky Fyolek, Crystal Lake Public Library director.

A busy Crystal Lake Public Library became a safe escape from the frigid temperatures Thursday.  

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"We’ve opened our meeting room as well, to have additional space for people to come and charge devices. We’ve had some homeschool groups in doing some work today, remote work, we’ve had a lot of people very happy to have resources today," said Fyolek.

This, as Community High School District 155 and Crystal Lake Elementary District 47 schools were closed Thursday as a result of the widespread outages.

"When it finally kicked on this morning, I think it was 57 degrees in the house," said Jackie Chaves, who lives in Cary.

Chaves and her family got resourceful until their power kicked back on Thursday morning.

"We had candles last night, [my son] had a head lamp on last night to read his book and play Uno. We had toy lights, anything we could find, flashlights," said Chaves.

Many of the outages were a result of downed trees and branches in neighborhoods, and damage to equipment.

"Ran to the store and bought a heater, a propane heater to keep the house a little bit warmed up," said Doug Pfeifer, who lives in Crystal Lake.

Pfeifer’s power was knocked out in the middle of the night, sending him to the store to snag a heater before they were gone.

"It was a pretty crowded aisle. People were buying radiant heaters, and salamanders, all sorts of stuff, so I grabbed the last one of the one I was looking for," said Pfeifer.

And thankfully so – because at home, Pfeifer’s leopard gecko named Geico isn't cut out for the elements.

"He crawled up my sleeve and sat there all day," said Pfeifer.

Pfeifer’s heat is now back on – along with Geico’s heat lamp.

"He was getting pretty cold, but he’s back in now, the heat lamp is on him so he’s good," said Pfeifer.

Other customers, however, could be waiting a while longer.

Officials with ComEd said that any remaining outages are expected to be restored by late Saturday.