Equipment issue knocks out power in NE Austin; 500 customers affected for about 40 minutes
Published 10:33 am Thursday, January 5, 2017
- Austin Fire Department was on scene outside of the Hormel Corporate north, helping with traffic as Austin Utilities worked to figure out the cause of a power outage in northeast Austin late Wednesday afternoon. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
More than 500 Austin Utilities customers were out of power in northeast Austin for about 40 minutes Wednesday afternoon after a piece of equipment shorted out and caught fire.
Utilities General Manager Mark Nibaur said the incident occurred shortly before 4 p.m. in an underground junction switch, which failed and caused a small fire and smoke.
The Austin Fire Department responded to the incident.
The outage affected the 10th Place Northeast Kwik Trip, KAAL TV, Joseph Company, the Austin Utilities Service and Operations Center and other northeast Austin homes and businesses, according to Nibaur.
Austin Utilities crews also had to repair a broken water main in northwest Austin on Thursday. Nibaur said such breaks are common this time of year, especially when there are big shifts in temperatures.
