Thunderstorms and heavy rain caused power outages for almost 10,000 Homer Electric Association customers Thursday morning, the company reported. From as far north as Soldotna to as far south as Anchor Point, the outage affected almost a third of HEA’s just over 30,000 customers.
“Thunderstorms and heavy rain this morning have caused several outages throughout the service area,” HEA first reported at 6:30 a.m.
Power was restored to about 1,600 customers in the Anchor Point and Soldotna areas at about 9 a.m., while power was restored to all affected customers by 10:50 a.m.
HEA Public Relations and State Affairs Strategist Tanya Lautaret said Thursday that the outage was caused by a possible lightning strike that caused two transmission lines and three substations to become de-energized. Power was restored after it was determined that lines were not damaged, Lautaret said.
The responding HEA crew, Lautaret said, included two members who patrolled for line damage from the air and two members who worked to redirect power from different substations.
Live power outage information can be found on HEA’s outage map at outage.homerelectric.com.
Reach reporter Ashlyn O’Hara at ashlyn.ohara@peninsulaclarion.com.
