Published:
In Tornadoes' Wake, ComEd Works Around the Clock to Restore Outages
CHICAGO, June 8 /PRNewswire/ -- In the wake of a series of devastating
tornadoes that overturned cars, destroyed homes and buildings, and severely
damaged power lines, ComEd is working to restore power outages affecting
13,000 customers inChicago's south suburbs as of 11 a.m. The utility has
already restored more than 17,000 customers affected by yesterday's severe
weather. Areas most affected by power outages includeChicago Heights,Park
Forest,Monee,University Park andLansing.
The tornadoes hit just three hours after ComEd completed restoring service
to nearly 116,000 homes and businesses that were affected by storms that hit
the area on June 6. ComEd also is preparing for additional storms predicted
for later today.
An extensive damage assessment effort is in progress to align resources in
order to safely restore service to homes and business. ComEd currently has 120
crews in the field working around the clock to restore power to customers,
mostly through temporary field switching and portable generators. Permanent
repairs will be made once all customers are returned to service. Because of
the extensive damage and the difficulty of making repairs, ComEd anticipates
that some customers may not be restored to service for several days. ComEd
expects to have more information on customer restoration times once our
initial damage assessment is completed later today.
The most significant devastation to the ComEd system occurred near
Interstate 57, where five transmission towers, the metal structures that
support high-voltage power lines, were severely damaged by the storm, leaving
seven spans of wire blocking the interstate. Transmission tower damage is
rare, and ComEd expects it may take up to a week to fully repair the towers.
This damage caused a loss of supply to the substation in theUniversity Park
area. ComEd is working with the Illinois Department of Transportation to
clear the downed power lines from I-57, and it is expected to re-open on
Monday.
In addition, ComEd is working to repair dozens of downed power lines,
broken poles and damaged cross-arms caused by the tornadoes and associated
high winds. Crews are working 16-hour shifts (16 hours on, eight hours off) to
complete the massive restoration effort.
"ComEd is using every resource at our disposal to restore service to our
customers as safely and quickly as possible," said Barry Mitchell, president
and chief operating officer, ComEd. "We recognize the inconvenience customers
experience due to power outages, especially those who suffer multi-day
outages, and we thank our customers for their understanding and patience."
The company warns customers and contractors to stay away from power lines
as they begin their clean-up efforts. Downed power lines-and even those still
in the air-may be live and dangerous, even if the area is without power.
Customers should steer clear of downed power lines and report their location
immediately to ComEd at 1-800-EDISON1 (1-800-334-7661).
In addition, it is important that customers do not assume ComEd is already
aware of their outage. Customers are encouraged to use the voice-automated
system at 1-800-EDISON1 to report outages so that ComEd can provide periodic
updates, in many cases, through an automated callback system.
Commonwealth Edison Company (ComEd) is a unit ofChicago-based Exelon
Corporation (NYSE: EXC), one of the nation's largest electric utilities with
approximately 5.4 million customers. ComEd provides service to approximately
3.8 million customers acrossNorthern Illinois, or 70 percent of the state's
population.
SOURCE ComEd
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