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Severe US Midwest Storms Cut Power to 500,000 Homes, Businesses

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Severe storms across the US Midwest have left over 500,000 homes and businesses without power, according to data from PowerOutage.

As many as 540,000 customers were left without power but the figure has now fallen to 504,544, with Indiana the hardest hit, with 261,800 outages, representing over 8% of its 3 million houses and businesses.

The Northern Indiana Public Service Co, owned by NiSource Inc (NI), was most impacted, with 55% of its 468,000 customers in the state facing an outage. The utility said that it was still assessing damage and would provide an estimated restoration time.

The utility did not immediately respond to' request for comment.

"There is widespread damage to electric infrastructure, including downed poles, power lines, and trees," it said, according to a Reuters report.

Other states fared relatively better, with Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky and California reporting 84,500, 79,261, 17,666 and 16,639 outages, respectively.

Duke Energy (DUK) had restored power to more than 171,000 customers across Greater Cincinnati and had 1,000 additional workers joining its restoration efforts, it said in a statement on Thursday.

According to AccuWeather meteorologist Alex Sosnowski, more rounds of thunderstorms were expected across the Plains, Midwest and East into Thursday, potentially leading to further outages.

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