Storms Leave 1 Million Without Power Across Midwest, Northeast and Ontario

Thunderstorms knocked out electricity for about one million customers across a band from Illinois to New York and into southern Ontario on Friday night, according to PowerOutage.com. Authorities said many outages resulted from downed power lines during the heat wave.

Officials warned residents that the combination of extreme heat and power loss created safety risks. In New York City, the mayor posted on social media that people without power should use city cooling centers overnight. Con Edison stated that thunderstorms had cut service to thousands of customers in the five boroughs and Westchester County, adding strain to the grid already stressed by prolonged heat.

NJ Transit said several train lines were disrupted.

Local fire officials said crews were working to restore service. Michigan’s two largest utilities, DTE Energy and Consumers Energy, deployed crews Friday night. DTE Energy said power was expected to be restored by the end of Monday for 95 percent of its affected customers.

In northern Ohio, Hambden and Chardon fire departments responded to calls about downed lines and trees. Severe storms also caused outages in Tennessee, according to utility EPB. In Ontario, Essex Powerlines reported thousands of customers without power, while Hydro One said crews continued to address extensive damage from earlier thunderstorms.