US Midwest storms leave over 360,000 without power; Indiana hardest hit

More than 360,000 homes and businesses were left without power after severe storms had hit the US Midwest, reports Reuters citing data from PowerOutage.us. According to the data, the state of Indiana was the hardest-hit, recording more than 215,803 outages which represents about 6.6% of its roughly 3.3 million customers.

"Another ‌cluster of ⁠thunderstorms ⁠is expected to develop on Saturday across portions of the Midwest and Ohio Valley, bringing the risk of damaging winds, flooding rainfall and disruptions to outdoor activities, weather forecaster AccuWeather said in a statement reported by Reuters.

Read more: Deaths, damage reported as severe weather spawns tornadoes, flash flooding in the Midwest


Utility services to about 199,454 homes and businesses of Northern Indiana Public Service Co were taken out, or ​about 43% of its roughly 468,000 customers ⁠in Indiana, making it the hardest-hit utility in the state.

NIPSCO, a utility unit of Indiana energy firm NiSource, said it expects to ⁠restore power to approximately 90% of impacted customers by August 18 and complete restoration for all customers by August 21.

Illinois on the other hand had about 58,617 homes and businesses without power with the Commonwealth Edison Company being the hardest hit utility. According to the company’s statement, greater than 92% of customers affected by this week's storms have been restored, and power to 99% of the remaining customers will be restored ‌ by August 15, 11 p.m EDT.

Read more: In 1859, the Carrington storm caused spectacular auroras and electrical disturbances in telegraph networks as far south as Cuba. 167 years later, a repeat could cripple key infrastructure while leaving some electronic devices surprisingly unaffected

Duke Energy said that its crews had made considerable progress in their repairs and damage assessment after the storms left widespread outages. In the Greater Cincinnati area, the company has restored nearly 223,000, or about 85% of the outages.

Ohio is recorded to have about 23,199 ​homes and businesses without electricity.

Units of Exelon and American Electric Power Co. are some of the other energy firms with power outages.

Major outages by states: Indiana 215,803 Illinois 58,617 Ohio 23,199 California 10,128 Kentucky 8,195 Total Out 360,915.