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News

Power fails for 1 million customers as storms sweep Midwest, Northeast, and Ontario

A heat wave gripping the region set the stage for dangerous conditions when storms swept through, cutting power from Illinois to New York

2 min read·Updated July 5, 2026
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Thunderstorms knocked out electricity for roughly 1 million customers across a stretch of the upper Midwest, Northeast, and southern Ontario late Friday, with downed power lines blamed for many of the outages, according to The New York Times.

PowerOutage.com, a tracking site cited by The Times, recorded roughly 1 million customers without power spanning from Illinois through New York and into Ontario. Mayor Zohran Mamdani of New York City took to social media to warn that heat-related dangers persisted through the nighttime hours, directing residents to overnight cooling centers the city had made available. Utility Con Edison reported that thunderstorms had cut power to customers across New York City's five boroughs and in Westchester County.

Posting on social media, New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill reported that the northern and central parts of the state had lost power due to severe storms and called on residents to keep clear of any downed lines. NJ Transit also announced service interruptions on multiple train lines as a result of the storms, according to The Times. Authorities in Warren, a township situated about 30 miles from New York City in New Jersey, told residents to expect a lengthy wait before electricity was restored, citing the breadth of damage left by the storms.

DTE Energy $DTE and Consumers Energy, Michigan's two largest utilities, mobilized repair crews Friday night, with DTE Energy projecting that service would be back for 95 percent of customers it serves by the close of Monday, according to The Times. Alburtis, a small borough in eastern Pennsylvania, issued a state of emergency after high winds toppled trees and took down power lines throughout the area.

According to NBC News, about 80 million people nationwide were contending with an extreme heat threat, with temperatures soaring 10 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit beyond seasonal norms and humidity driving the heat index as high as 110 degrees Fahrenheit in some areas.

Update, July 5, 2026: As of Sunday, more than 800,000 customers remained without power from Oklahoma to Connecticut, with the bulk of outages concentrated in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New York. Jersey Central Power and Light had restored service to 210,000 of the 294,000 New Jersey customers who lost power between Friday and Saturday, while more than 68,000 Connecticut customers were left without electricity following Saturday night's storms; additional severe weather was forecast for Sunday, primarily in the Mid-Atlantic and Texas. (per CBS News)

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