Published: August 08, 2007 10:28 pm      

Thousands lose power in heat wave outage

Nearly 2,000 people in Nicholas County lost power — in the sweltering heat — Wednesday afternoon, authorities reported.

Between 3:45 and 5 p.m. Wednesday, about 1,800 Allegheny Power customers in and around Summersville lost power, according to the Nicholas County Emergency Operations Center.

Allen Staggers, manager of corporate communications for Allegheny Power, said only four customers remained without power as of 9:30 p.m. Wednesday. Crews were expected to complete restoration sometime after midnight.

The outage was caused by a transformer failure at a substation, but the reason why that transformer failed has been undetermined, Staggers said. Wednesday’s extreme heat is a possible explanation.

“I don’t want to say, for certain, that it was or was not. But that’s certainly a possibility,” he said.

Traffic lights also blacked out, the EOC said. Law enforcement and fire personnel worked to direct traffic, and no accidents were reported.

A few elderly people were reported to be in the heat, but because family members brought them to other locations, no one had to be placed in a shelter, the EOC said. One elderly woman had to be helped from the third floor of a building by emergency medical technicians.

— Amelia A. Pridemore