CHICAGO, Aug. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- ComEd has restored service to virtually all 2,775 customers affected by an outage on Chicago's south side.
By 4 p.m., ComEd crews had replaced 400 feet of underground cable and energized the line. Crews are now going to various locations in ComEd's system within the affected area to manually restore power to the remaining customers. ComEd estimates returning power to all customers on the south side early this evening.
The outage began at 7:30 p.m. Monday when an underground cable failed. The affected area was bounded by 32nd Street to the north, Hyde Park Boulevard to the south, Lake Shore Drive to the east and Martin Luther King Drive to the west.
The City of Chicago relocated affected residents to cooling centers, McCormick Place, and UIC while senior residents were moved to local hotels, where their accommodations were paid for by ComEd. The utility augmented the city's emergency response effort by providing four cooling buses, ice, water and meals while ComEd crews worked to restore power. This evening's dinner for the evacuated residents also will be provided by ComEd.
"We want to commend the City of Chicago for its timely response in this situation," said ComEd Chairman and CEO Frank M. Clark. "ComEd crews have worked through the night to replace the damaged cable and restore power to the affected area. Our collaborative efforts ensured the safety of those residents."
Commonwealth Edison Company (ComEd) is a unit of Chicago-based Exelon Corporation , one of the nation's largest electric utilities with approximately 5.2 million customers and more than $15 billion in annual revenues. ComEd provides service to approximately 3.7 million customers across Northern Illinois, or 70 percent of the state's population.
