Friday, August 24th, 2007 — A fast-moving storm packing winds over 70 mph turned skies from day to night across a wide swath of the Chicago area Thursday, damaging homes and businesses, splitting trees and bringing planes and trains to a halt. About 310,000 customers in northern Illinois were without power Thursday night, including 62,000 in Chicago, said ComEd spokesman Tom Stevens, who added that it could take days to restore power for some customers north of the city.