Chicago Weather

Suburban Businesses Weather Power Outages During Ice Storm

NBC Universal, Inc.

An ice storm warning remains in effect until early Thursday morning in McHenry County as freezing rain impacts the area, NBC 5’s Evrod Cassimy reports.

An ice storm in the northwestern suburbs led to power outages at many businesses in the downtown area of Crystal Lake on Wednesday.

Despite losing power, one local business is forced to stay open for the next few hours in the dark. 

“The lights flickered on and off a few times then they just never came back,” said Becca Kenning, stylist at Blush Salon.

Kenning was in the middle of bleaching her clients hair at the salon in downtown Crystal Lake when it happened. An ice storm led to a power outage and she and the other stylists were forced to finish their clients in the dark. 

“Are you prepared to bleach somebody’s head in the dark?" NBC 5's Evrod Cassimy asked Kenning.

"I mean, there’s NO turning back now!” said Kenning.

Salon employees said it wasn't the first time they had momentarily lost power on the job.

Even with the approaching ice storm, customers like Melissa Nash she had to get her roots touched up before it was too late. 

“I was a little worried but I knew they’d get it!” said Nash.

“It’s definitely an experience but I trust her," said Kenning's client Alexis Roney.

Next door at Aroma Coffee, the lights had flickered when we first stopped in. Now, with the power out completely, customers sat in the dark finishing their lattes while employees starting closing up shop early. 

“We’ll let the customers stay until our closing procedures are done,” owner Dawn Kincaid told NBC 5.

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