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ComEd Crews To Help Little Rock In Face Of Ice Storm

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Although Chicago is experiencing wintry temperatures early, it could be a lot worse.

ComEd Friday dispatched 50 linemen and support personnel, and several dozen trucks, 650 miles south of Chicago to help the local utility cope with an ice storm that is expected to coat the Little Rock, Ark., area with as much as an inch of ice.

ComEd Crews To Help In Little Rock

The mere forecast was enough to prompt Jimmy Buffett to cancel a sold-out concert, scheduled in North Little Rock for Saturday night. But Edison Construction and Maintenance Manager Mark Primm is leading the contingent into the storm.

He told the assembled crews before leaving that they might not make it to the Little Rock coliseum that is their staging area if forecasts prove to be accurate.

Primm told crews that 25 mile-an-hour winds will make conditions on the power poles dicey.

Local utility Entergy is drawing 6,000 linemen and repair personnel from across the country, supplementing its own force of 2,000. ComEd has told the crews they could be in Arkansas for several weeks cleaning up Mother Nature's mess.

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