Electric power restored to Westar customers / LJWorld.com

Archive for Monday, May 10, 2010

Electric power restored to Westar customers

Westar Energy workers talk outside a substation north of the intersection of Sixth and Kentucky Streets. The crew was looking to bring back power to a downtown area primarily north and east of 23rd and Iowa Streets. Early indications from Westar officials indicated that the power outage was due to a lightning strike.

By Staff Report

May 10, 2010, 9:40 a.m. Updated May 10, 2010, 5:52 p.m.

Baker makes it work without power

Josh Hilliard at WheatField's Bakery kept on cooking through the power outage Monday morning, May 10, 2010. Enlarge video

Photo by Nick Krug

Drivers carefully proceed through the intersection of Ninth and Tennessee Streets, Monday, May 10, 2010 as traffic lights downtown were out because of a power outage. The power failures were confined primarily to the area north and east of 23rd and Iowa Streets.

Photo by Richard Gwin

Wheatfields Bakery's baker Josh Hilliard, used a cycling light to cook through Monday morning's downtown power outage May 10, 2010.

5:51

Westar Energy's website reports power has been restored to all Douglas County customers.

3:34 p.m.

According to the Westar Energy Website, 44 Douglas County customers are without power. However, a Westar spokesperson has not yet reported a cause for the day’s outages.

2:26 p.m.

The Lawrence Public Library has closed for the day due to the power outages, but will reopen for normal business hours Tuesday, according to its website.

1:09 p.m.

Power has been restored to the 1,729 Westar Energy customers that lost it for nearly 20 minutes around 12:30 p.m. A definite cause has not been determined for the latest outage, nor the outage earlier Monday morning. Only 49 customers are still without power, according to the company's Web site.

12:36 p.m.

Westar Energy is reporting via its website that 1,782 Douglas County residents are again without electric power. Initial reports indicate businesses near 23rd and Louisiana Streets are without power. This comes after an hour-long power outage near downtown Lawrence Monday morning.

11:01 a.m.

More than 7,700 Westar Energy customers were without power for about an hour Monday morning, including many businesses in downtown Lawrence.

The power failures were confined primarily to the area north and east of 23rd and Iowa. Those who lost power represent about 17.5 percent of Westar customers in Lawrence.

Power went off about 9:35 a.m. in Lawrence, said Erin LaRow, Westar Energy spokeswoman. It was restored by about 10:45 a.m. As of 11 a.m., LaRow said the cause of the outage had not been determined.

However, a Westar Energy supervisor said the outage likely was caused by a lightning strike. He said two breakers were down, which was unusual.

Several traffic signals were out in the outage area, including signals along Sixth Street at Michigan and Maine and Massachusetts streets.

Any signals within the outage area that continued to function did so because they have backup battery power, said David Woosley, the city’s traffic engineer. Only a handful of signals near downtown and in North Lawrence have such backup systems.

Power was out at City Hall.

Lawrence Memorial Hospital also operated without power, though the important parts of the hospital, including the emergency room and surgery departments were “fully functional” during the widespread outage, said Belinda Rehmer, LMH spokeswoman.

Douglas County buildings downtown also were without power and couldn’t accept credit card payments. The power is now restored. Monday was the deadline for payment of the second half of 2009 real estate taxes.

Students, faculty and staff living in some of Kansas University’s residential facilities — specifically, GSP-Corbin Hall, Sunflower Apartments and some scholarship halls — were without power briefly Monday morning, said Jill Jess, a KU spokeswoman.

Audio Reader and Kansas Public Radio both have backup power systems, and were unaffected by the outage.

Students should not — repeat, should not — expect a break from their academic responsibilities as the semester’s end approaches.

“Finals are going on as scheduled,” Jess said.

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agilla 3 years ago

if sunflower broadband is down, how am I reading this and making a comment?

RETICENT_IRREVERENT 3 years ago

Good thing for the award winning LJWorld.com has UPS(s)

fleeba 3 years ago

Power is out at LMH as well.

poolside 3 years ago

twitter

sommerj 3 years ago

Kansas Public Radio and Audio-Reader are currently without power.

pj_hawk4life 3 years ago

Power is out just S of 9th & Emery. With no electricity I guess I have to actually study for finals

sommerj 3 years ago

Kansas Public Radio and Audio-Reader are broadcasting on back up power.

nlf78 3 years ago

North Lawrence has no power either.

Boston_Corbett 3 years ago

out at 8th & Illinoisl. Smartphones rock.

af5 3 years ago

You rock AT&T. Motorola Backflip kept me online :)

weatherguy48 3 years ago

I just got one of those! They're so awesome :)

dbrm4ever2006 3 years ago

I am in North Lawrence around 7th street and we still have power.

af5 3 years ago

Cause might be the lightning. Was pretty heavy for a while.

bookemdano 3 years ago

6th and Mass is down too.

Liberty275 3 years ago

I imagine sunflower has a backup generator and IT guys bright enough to charge the UPS batteries (LOL @ KU)

On the positive side, this should be a wake up call to all our anti-coal friends living and working around downtown. This can become a regular occurrence instead of a yearly annoyance if we surrender our means of power generation to the whims of the environment.

livingstone 3 years ago

Nice try for linking power outage with coal power plant. Fail.... 2% of energy now that Wester supplies come from wind farm.

Ricky_Vaughn 3 years ago

Way to make it political, Liberty.

zstoltenberg 3 years ago

According to westar it is a downed line and they have absolutely no idea when power will be restored. Way to go on my iPhone. Glad I remembered to plug it in last night... Sunflower is up but most cable modems still require power, duh!

onehawkoneshock 3 years ago

Power is out at part of the University too. Try taking a final in the dark. This should really help my grade point average!

Shardwurm 3 years ago

Most of your peers have been in the dark their entire college careers so you're on a level playing field now.

kusp8 3 years ago

Bank of America's w/o power...time to rob a bank ;)

maxcrabb 3 years ago

Out at ninth and avalon as well. Shower by candle light, anyone?

maxcrabb 3 years ago

Anything to spice up a Monday morning.

Kontum1972 3 years ago

pooh

aha 3 years ago

"Drivers approaching an intersection where signals are not functioning should threat the intersection as a four-way stop, Woosley."

fleeba 3 years ago

Lawrence Memorial Hospital still doesn't have power. Not sure why they are reporting otherwise on this site.

anonyname 3 years ago

Direct quote from the article: "Lawrence Memorial Hospital is also operating without power, though the important parts of the hospital, including the emergency room and surgery departments are “fully functional,” said Belinda Rehmer, LMH spokeswoman." Not sure where you're seeing how the entire hospital has power.

fleeba 3 years ago

Power back on at LMH.

thetagger 3 years ago

Power at 13th and Massachusetts is back on.

ladyoneill 3 years ago

Back on at 11th & New Hampshire.

Nick Bundy 3 years ago

Power should be restored to everyone as of 10:35 a.m.. Lightning is most likely the cause of the outage, although we haven't officially confirmed. Problem was a major line feeding the 6th street substation.

vegasnut 3 years ago

Word is West Star had a meeting this morning and nobody was doing any work. Oops. LOL. Just got my lights back on,

Nick Bundy 3 years ago

Westar, not West Star... We'll investigate to see if this was the cause. ;)

just_another_bozo_on_this_bus 3 years ago

I'm sure glad the power came back on so I can tell everyone that my power was off, but now it's on again.

This announcement provided as a public service.

OonlyBonly 3 years ago

I think this should be a wake up call to City Hall to get more UPSs installed at traffic signals. 14th & Mass was a hazard area with hardly anybody obeying the rules of the road - the only reason there wasn't a wreck is because a few actually did.

onehawkoneshock 3 years ago

I find it hilarious that officials at KU said that they weren't affected by the power outage. I guarantee you that I took my final in the dark this morning. Apparently university officials didn't want to deal with the possibility of students not showing up if they learned that the power wasn't on so they chose not to tell the truth.