CHICAGO — Strong wind and torrential rain buffeted the Midwest this morning as forecasters predicted the giant storm could be the most powerful to hit Illinois in over seven decades.

The massive storm muscled its way across an area that stretched from the Dakotas to the eastern Great Lakes. Severe thunderstorm warnings blanketed much of the Midwest, and tornado warnings were issued from Arkansas to southern Illinois.

Commuters in the Chicago area faced a blustery, wind-driven rain as they waited for trains to take them downtown before dawn. Some huddled underneath train overpasses to stay out of the gusts, dashing to the platform at the last minute.

Umbrellas were virtually useless: The gusts flipped them inside out and in some cases snapped them in two.

The weather service said gusts that topped 50 miles per hour slammed into the Chicago suburb of Lombard early today.

Weather Service Meteorologist Jim Allsopp said the storm could be one of the strongest to hit Illinois in more than 70 years.

We Energies made plans to deal with service outages across Wisconsin caused by broken tree limbs and downed power lines.

ComEd was trying to restore power to about 5,600 customers in Illinois, the utility's spokesman Bennie Currie said.