Power outage snarls northern Elgin

A failed underground electrical cable in downtown Elgin Tuesday afternoon caused 933 customers to lose power and snarled traffic as police shut down roads, officials said.

ComEd spokeswoman Judy Rader said the outage ran from 2:45 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. in an area bounded by the Fox River, Executive Drive, Church Street and Big Timber Road.

ComEd also dispatched a crew to check on a report of smoke coming from a manhole cover at Route 31 and Mountain Street, which is just north of Chicago Street, Rader said.

"That's usually a signal that one of our underground cables has failed," she said.

Elgin Police spokeswoman Ann Dinges said officers closed several intersections, including a stretch of Route 31, to assist the fire department.

Traffic was backed up on Route 31 and hurried motorists scrambled to make their way through town via side roads.

No injuries were reported as a result of the smoking manhole.