Some DeKalb businesses and part of the NIU campus were left powerless late Wednesday afternoon.

Commonwealth Edison representative Don Subigoth said the three-hour power outage was caused by a fault in an underground electrical cable. He said workers rerouted the electricity around the fault to restore power.

The power outage lasted from about 4 p.m. to about 7 p.m. and affected the area along Lincoln Highway west of Normal Road and extended north past the Holmes Student Center and Neptune residence hall.

The fault “was very difficult to locate,” Subigoth said. “We thought it was something on an overhead line and it wasn’t,” he said.

The stoplights at the intersections of Lincoln Highway and Normal and Annie Glidden roads went out, said DeKalb Police Sgt. Jim Kays. He said stop signs were put up at the intersections and no accidents occurred.

Kays said it was a “quiet day,” but “all the (business security) alarms started going off” when the power went out.

“The lights went out but the backup generators went right on,” said Judy Wetsell, Pow Wow student manager. “Basically, the lights were only out for 30 seconds,” she said.

Neptune Director Rogene Montgomery said the power did go out but he was told the auxiliary power was on.

Dan Szkola, manager at McDonald’s, 805 W. Lincoln Hwy., said the franchise had to close during the power outage. “We lost the normal business for the day,” he said.

“Everything’s electrical,” Szkola said, “the grills, shake machines, registers.”