Spring Break
Power outage leaves 11,800 in the dark
Transmission line fails because of faulty crossbar, Pacific Power restores power in 20 minutes
Lauren Dillard
Issue date: 4/10/09 Section: News
After nearly 20 minutes in the dark, power was restored around the city of Corvallis as well as to the OSU campus on Thursday at 4:49 p.m.
A power outage, which affected as many as 11,800 Pacific Power customers, was caused by a faulty crossbar.
This crossbar held up a transmission line that fed power to parts of Corvallis, Albany and as far as Mary's River, according to Pacific Power spokesman Tom Gauntt.
Students reported outages in the library, Cascade Hall as well as around the city of Corvallis.
According to Todd Simmons, OSU spokesperson, the Faculty Senate meeting in LaSell's Stewart Center was left in the dark.
Gauntt said Pacific Power crews switched the flow over to a parallel transmission line to correct the problem.
"It was brief, but fairly wide," according to Gauntt.
Gauntt was referring to one of two types of power outages. This outage affected many customers, but the effects were short term. A power outage caused near a customer's home, by something like a tree, affects very few. However, it can be a much more long term problem.
Fixing the actual crossbar, where the problem occurred, may take a while, but power will continue to flow, according to Gauntt.
Lauren L. Dillard, managing editor
managing@dailybarometer.com, 737-2232
A power outage, which affected as many as 11,800 Pacific Power customers, was caused by a faulty crossbar.
This crossbar held up a transmission line that fed power to parts of Corvallis, Albany and as far as Mary's River, according to Pacific Power spokesman Tom Gauntt.
Students reported outages in the library, Cascade Hall as well as around the city of Corvallis.
According to Todd Simmons, OSU spokesperson, the Faculty Senate meeting in LaSell's Stewart Center was left in the dark.
Gauntt said Pacific Power crews switched the flow over to a parallel transmission line to correct the problem.
"It was brief, but fairly wide," according to Gauntt.
Gauntt was referring to one of two types of power outages. This outage affected many customers, but the effects were short term. A power outage caused near a customer's home, by something like a tree, affects very few. However, it can be a much more long term problem.
Fixing the actual crossbar, where the problem occurred, may take a while, but power will continue to flow, according to Gauntt.
Lauren L. Dillard, managing editor
managing@dailybarometer.com, 737-2232
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