Power has been restored to customers affected by a pair of outages resulting from near-simultaneous incidents Monday afternoon.
The first incident was reported at 2805 Bel Air Drive shortly before 12:10 pm. What was originally reported as a downed line turned out to be a downed utility pole.
According to Evergy District Services Manager Rolland Trahoon II a vehicle backed into the pole bringing it to the ground. Emporia Fire Batallion Chief Eron Steinlage.
Steinlage says a fence in the area was also scorched by the flames, however, the fire did not spread to any structures in the area.
The damage left more than 90 customers offline for close to an hour before Evergy managed to restore service just before 1:30 pm. Crews then began a replacement of the damaged pole.
At the same time, Emporia Police and Emporia Fire responded to a downed line at the corner of 18th Ave. and Maplecrest. A resulting outage left fewer than five customers without power for close to an hour as well.
No injuries or damage were reported in that situation. An exact cause has not yet been determined, however, Steinlage says initial indications are wind speeds likely played a factor.
1 pm Monday: Nearly 100 customers left powerless in Emporia following pair of line-down calls Monday afternoon
Emporia Police, Emporia Fire and Evergy responded to a pair of line-down calls in western Emporia early Monday afternoon.
The first call came down shortly before 12:10 pm at 2805 Bel Air Drive and included a report of multiple poles on fire. Roughly five minutes later a second line down was reported at the intersection of 18th Avenue and Maplecrest.
The Bel Air outage resulted in more than 90 customers being offline. The Maplecrest incident resulted in fewer than five outages in the area.
Evergy is in the process of restoring power to those affected. Full details are currently pending.
Stay with KVOE, KVOE.com and KVOE social media for more details as they become available. A list of organizations can be found online at KVOE.com.
