A power line problem near Wasilla on Monday evening triggered a brief but widespread power outage across much of southern Alaska as utilities automatically cut off customers’ electricity supplies to prevent a blackout.
Julie Hasquet, a spokeswoman for Chugach Electric, said Tuesday that the outage, which began around 5:30 p.m. Monday, ultimately affected about 45,000 of the utility’s customers. The Matanuska Electric Association also reported a power outage for about 20,000 members as far north as Denali State Park.
A fault along a transmission line about 10 miles north of Wasilla knocked two Chugach generating stations offline, Hasquet said, and triggered a “load shedding” as Railbelt utilities cut power to some members. Both utilities reported that most power was restored after about 90 minutes.
Hasquet said emergency crews searched the power line Monday evening but were unable to immediately find the cause of the fault. Often, it can be contact with tree branches or wildlife. On Tuesday morning, that search was continued with aerial surveillance.
“Today they are actually flying the line and looking for the cause of the fault in the transmission line,” said Hasquet.
The outage affected about half of Chugach’s roughly 92,000 members, as well as some traffic lights during Anchorage’s evening rush hour, but Hasquet said social media claims that the entire city was out of power during the outage were false.
“There were parts of Hillside that weren’t affected; there were parts of Midtown that weren’t affected,” Hasquet said. “It definitely wasn’t the whole city.”
The Chugach customers without power Monday were in areas designated in advance for a power outage, Hasquet said. The list is designed to protect Anchorage’s critical infrastructure, such as hospitals and military bases. A similar power outage in February, caused by a gas leak at an MEA plant in Eklutna, left about 12,000 Chugach members without power.
Hasquet called Monday’s outage a good reminder for Alaskans to prepare for fall power outages as the region heads into storm season in September.
“Make a plan with your family about what you would do if there was a power outage,” she said. “There’s no better time to plan for an emergency than before it happens.”
Chris Klint is a web producer and breaking news reporter at Alaska Public Media. You can reach him at[email protected].Read more about ChrisHere.
