Powerless

ComEd has informed village officials that electricity will be restored to 90 percent of the estimated 4,300 Downers Grove customers who remain without power by noon Friday.

Among those struggling with the latest outage is resident Carrie Swenson, whose Glendenning Road home lost power at about 8 p.m. last night. TribLocal has more on her neighborhood's travails.

The village residents are among the more than 10,000 customers in ComEd's Bolingbrook regional office who lost power following Monday's severe thunderstorm.

"The vast amount of damage caused by the July 11 storm has prolonged restoration througout ComEd's service territory," the village said in an automated call today.

In a release yesterday, ComEd said it had deployed 480 crews and had requested assistance from all available resources, including contractor crews and assistance of crews from neighboring states.

“We recognize that power outages disrupt the lives and businesses of our customers,” Anne Pramaggiore, ComEd president and chief operating officer, said in the release. “ComEd crews are working hard to restore service to customers affected by the storm as quickly and safely as possible.”

The utility company offered the following suggestions for those facing an extended outage:

• Turn off all appliances including your furnace, water heater, and water pump.
• Leave a lamp on so you can know when power has been restored.
• Keep freezer and refrigerator doors closed and open them only when necessary. Food will stay frozen for 36 to 48 hours in a fully loaded freezer, if the door remains closed. A half-full freezer will generally keep food frozen for 24 hours.
• Customers who are on medical support equipment are strongly encouraged to evacuate to a place where they can be comfortable and safe.