Lombard trustees meet with ComEd for storm aftermath assessment
LOMBARD, Illinois— Lombard Village trustees Peter Breen and Laura Fitzpatrick met Monday with village staff and Commonwealth Edison representative John O'Halloran to discuss the massive power outage that swept DuPage County as a result of storm damage on Sunday, July 1.
The meeting covered the outage, its causes, and the response by both the village and ComEd. The storm left almost all of the residents of Lombard Village Districts 4 & 5, and many residents in District 1, without power for days.
Breen and Fitzpatrick suffered multi-day power outages along with their constituents, Breen for four days and Fitzpatrick for three days.
“The issue of electrical reliability needs to be at the top of our priority list as a Village,” said Breen. “While we can't stop every electrical outage, we should look for concrete steps that we can take as a Village to minimize the frequency and length of outages and the impact on our residents.”
During the briefing, village staff indicated that the damage from this most recent storm is the most severe and widespread in over five years, even surpassing the major storm that struck Lombard in 2007.
The trustees discussed what steps had been taken to significantly reduce not only power outages, but also the length of time that residents spend without power. Related concerns to power outages were raised, such as senior citizens experiencing extreme heat situations and inoperable sump pumps that could result in home flooding.
“This storm has tested our village resources immensely,” said Fitzpatrick. “The early indications are that our staff has met and in some cases even exceeded expectations in cleanup operations and at-risk senior services during this past week. It appears that our brush pickup is well ahead of schedule and will conclude well in advance of some of our neighboring communities.”
O'Halloran noted that 95% of the recent outage was the result of trees and branches and high winds bringing down power lines, conductors, and poles. Village staff expressed that communications with ComEd improved during this storm event, as staff was able to pinpoint power restoration efforts and which crews were scheduled and dispatched for significant areas of repair. These communications proved invaluable for village crews working in tandem on the cleanup and emergency situations that arise during a storm.
Breen and Fitzpatrick also asked for a status on the Smart Grid plans for Lombard. The Smart Grid's new infrastructure and technology upgrades are intended to assist in the identification and alleviation of outages. Scheduled installation of residential Smart Meters in Lombard is scheduled for 2013-2014. Smart Grid upgrades that automatically transfer power to other circuits during a power outage are in process and will continue over the next five years.
Breen and Fitzpatrick will submit a proposal for the “Electrical Reliability Task Force” in the near future. Potential items for the Task Force to consider include Village policies related to parkway trees near power lines, possible assistance for those seeking to install generators, developing a system for residents to notify the Village about potential power line hazards, educating the public about the specifics of how ComEd provides electrical service, and looking at best practices from other municipalities and power companies in our area and across the country for possible future Village projects.
Public Works expects that it will complete the first pass of all debris left on the parkway by Friday, July 13. The village will perform a full post-storm assessment, as it does after each storm event, to assist staff in continuing to streamline emergency events and improve response time and effectiveness in the future.