Some South Suburban Residents Remain Hot, In The Dark, And Stuck Without Power
SOUTH HOLLAND, Ill. (CBS) -- Some Chicago area residents have been waiting four days for the smallest, yet most powerful feat – the sound of the air conditioning revving back up or the refrigerator or microwave clicking back on.
But on Thursday night, generators continued buzzing in neighborhoods across the area, as some ComEd customers entered a fifth day without electricity.
As CBS 2's Tara Molina reported, ComEd said Thursday that it had restored electricity to 90 percent of its customers. To the remaining 10 percent, the painful wait continued Thursday night – with four days and counting of no power.
Those people stuck in the dark and the heat said it was brutal.
One crew made the trip from Alabama to help ComEd restore power in South Holland. They were some of more than 1,000 out-of-state workers across in the Chicago area Thursday night.
We caught out-of-state crews hard at work clearing damage and restoring power in the south suburbs. But days after the storm hit Monday with hurricane-force winds and several confirmed tornadoes, others were still waiting - like the people in one Midlothian neighborhood.
"There's no work being done," said Duane Millsaps.
In that neighborhood, Luray Shah was one of the lucky few on the block to have a generator running.
"We have been able to charge our cell phones," she said.
But dealing with heat, and what she called "camping," was not so pleasant."
"Forced camping," Shah said. "Yay."
Her fingers were crossed for power Friday.
"I wish they would do us now and quickly," she said.
Just a couple blocks away Millsaps does not have a generator, and his family has been forced throw out all their food.
"It's been hot and miserable," he said.
At this point, they're starting to feel like a lower priority in this part of Midlothian.
"The Midlothian areas they should be doing like the rich areas," Millsaps said.
Power in Midlothian is expected to be restored on Friday, and many in other surrounding suburbs have been told Saturday.