photo by: Lawrence Journal-World

LJWorld.com

Story updated at 4:17 p.m. Tuesday, May 16:

A power outage that affected about 600 residents in eastern Lawrence for a couple of hours on Tuesday morning was caused by an equipment malfunction, a spokesperson for electric utility Evergy said Tuesday afternoon, hours after she initially said the outage was caused by a car accident.

The outage was first reported around 9:20 a.m. and affected at least 614 residents near the intersection of 23rd Street and Haskell Avenue, according to Evergy’s website. Shortly after 11 a.m., Gina Penzig, a spokesperson for Evergy, told the Journal-World via email that the outage was caused by a car striking a power pole.

But on Tuesday afternoon, at about 3:50 p.m., Penzig said in an email that the “report of a car hitting (the) pole was incorrect.” Rather, she said, “a switch on the power line failed and the top of the pole caught fire.”

“We isolated the equipment to prevent further damage or additional outages,” Penzig said. “Repairs were then made to restore service.” She said power was restored around 11:20 a.m.

Police scanner traffic indicated that witnesses reported the pole was shooting sparks and there were visible flames when the outage began.