1,600 customers find their connection in Algonquin

Nearly all of the roughly 1,600 ComEd customers without power this morning in Algonquin are plugged back in, officials said today.

"We were at 95 percent as of noon," said Tom Stevens, a ComEd spokesman. "We're not quite there yet but nearly everybody's back."

Downed wires from a transformer at Sandbloom and Algonquin roads this morning initially disconnected these customers ComEd customers, Stevens said.

The outage, which occurred at 10:50 a.m., affected a commercial and residential area on the east side of town, said Algonquin-Lake in the Hills Fire Battalion Chief Joe Teson.

By 11:35, the utility had restored 800 customers.

Rather than rerouting traffic, authorities secured the scene until ComEd arrived to "do their thing," Teson said.

While Teson contends the transformer exploded, Stevens said he could not confirm that report.

Area businesses such as a Jewel-Osco and three schools - Algonquin Middle, Algonquin Lakes Elementary and Eastview Elementary, were among those without electricity, authorities said.

ComEd has since restored power to all three schools.

"We're back on, good to go," Eastview Principal James Zursin said.

The actual cause of the outage remains under investigation, Stevens said.