Freezing rain and ice knock out power and freeze roads from Arlington Heights to Crystal Lake

“Kind of cold, rainy, and terrible,” said Jim Ray, a Chicago resident, of the weather conditions Wednesday evening.

All across the north-to-northwestern suburbs — from Arlington Heights to Crystal Lake and beyond — ice blanketed street signs, trees, power lines and streets, knocking out power for Chicagoland residents, and creating hazardous travel conditions along the way as an ice storm ripped through the area.

“If you don’t have to be out on the roads just stay home,” said Roberto Tellez, a snow plow driver. “But if you do, just be careful. Drive slowly and take your distance from cars because it is kind of slippery.”

In McHenry County, the sheriff’s office urged people to stay home as emergency personnel and Illinois Department of Transportation crews worked to remove trees and clean up downed power lines on roads in the area.

As of 9:06 p.m. Wednesday, over 110,000 ComEd customers were without power, according to the company’s online outage map.