A power outage Monday morning impacted approximately 2,400 Homer Electric Association members in and around Kenai.
Melissa Carlin of HEA spoke to KSRM to explain what happened on Monday: “As we all know, it’s been a blustery weekend! It’s continuing into today. This morning around 7:00 a.m., we got reports from about south K-Beach Road to Bonita Avenue – that is the south end of K-Beach Road – that power was out for about 2,400 members. The cause was a large tree on the line.” She noted that HEA was quick to react: “Crews were on it, they got that off, and power was restored by 9:10 a.m. this morning.”
Do the winds often cause such a widespread power outage on the Kenai? Carlin: “Yes. As we see the weather start to change, we get the wind storms and snow storms. Right now, it’s probably a combination of the wind and the wet snow on the lines, and broken poles, broken trees on the lines. Yes, I would advise the community to just be aware of this and be prepared and keep their sensitive electronic equipment on the surge protectors and whatnot. Stay safe and hunker down!”
She said HEA is aiming to reduce the invasiveness of these outages: “Homer Electric is prepared to go up there and deal with these outages. Just be sure to call-in your outage each time from the number where you are out.”
Future outages can be called into Homer Electric at (888) 8-OUTAGE or (888) 868-8243.