Severe thunderstorms that swept through Evanston Tuesday evening knocked out power to thousands of households in the city.

Firefighters are responding to numerous reports of power lines down and transformers that have caught fire.

A downed tree branch blocks the sidewalk on Church Street near Benson Avenue. (Jeff Hirsh photo)

There also are numerous reports of trees down blocking streets and some that have fallen onto homes.

A street light pole apparently toppled by high winds from the storm fell on the sidewalk on Church Street downtown near the Celtic Knot restaurant. (Jeff Hirsh photo)

As of 9 p.m. ComEd was reporting dozens of separate outages spread cross the city with individual outages impacting anywhere from a handful to hundreds of customers.

The utility was not yet providing estimates for when power might be restored.

Bill Smith is the editor and publisher of Evanston Now.