The lights are back on in Hinsdale.

Village President Greg Hart announced Friday, July 31, that power has been restored to nearly all residents after a week-long outage that left up to 1,200 ComEd customers in the dark following the Monday, July 27, storm. The resolution came after what Hart described as relentless behind-the-scenes pressure on ComEd's executive leadership and coordination with state legislators.

"We worked relentlessly to elevate Hinsdale's needs, pressing ComEd's executive leadership for answers and restoration while engaging our state partners to help amplify our message," Hart said on X.

Hart thanked Illinois House Speaker Chris Welch and state Sen. Suzy Glowiak Hilton for advocating directly with ComEd on the village's behalf. He also credited Hinsdale's police, fire, and public services teams for keeping the community safe through the week.

A week of missed deadlines

The July 27 storm dumped nearly 3 inches of rain on Hinsdale with wind speeds reported nearby of 70 mph, knocking out power to approximately 1,200 ComEd customers and downing utility wires at nine locations across the village. No injuries were reported. The storm was part of a regional outbreak that left more than 530,000 ComEd customers without power across northern Illinois, with gusts exceeding 80 mph in nearby Downers Grove, Elmhurst, and Westmont.

By Tuesday, July 28, roughly 700 homes remained without power. The village deployed two woodchippers simultaneously, one on the north side and one on the south, to clear downed trees. Storm damage extended to hail-damaged police cars, the Hinsdale Food Pantry, and flooding in municipal buildings, according to Patch.

ComEd's restoration estimates repeatedly slipped. On Tuesday, Hart reported that 80–90% of remaining outages were expected back by Wednesday morning. By Wednesday evening, 180 customers were still dark. Hart warned residents that a Friday, July 31, estimate appearing in ComEd's outage portal was "a generic placeholder" not specific to Hinsdale.

By Thursday, July 30, Hart's tone sharpened. He called the situation "unacceptable," noting that repeated promises to address remaining outages had not been kept. As we reported July 31, Hart directly confronted ComEd on social media, acknowledging the storm's regional scale while pressing the utility on Hinsdale's unresolved cases.

Second major outage in a month

This was the second significant power failure to hit Hinsdale in less than four weeks. A July 3 storm knocked out service to about 800 customers, but 94% were restored by the following afternoon. The July 27 event dragged on five times longer. ComEd has said its service area experienced severe weather in 2026 "unlike what we've seen in recent years" and has already weathered more storms this year than in all of 2025.

The disparity in restoration times has fueled calls from residents for infrastructure investment. Hinsdale resident Michael Halkias urged Hart on social media to restart a cost-benefit analysis of burying the village's power lines underground over the next five to 10 years, pointing to Naperville's commitment to undergrounding as a model.

@Mhalkias: "I think our Village should prioritize being 'proactive' vs. 'reactive.' Naperville has made this commitment, and it's paid off."

What comes next

Hart signaled the village's work is not finished. He pledged to seek answers from ComEd and push for infrastructure and communication improvements. No specific Village Board meeting date for a formal review has been announced.