Confused Durangoans who woke up Sunday to find their clocks reset and flashing may find it news to learn there was a widespread, yet short-lived, power outage that affected most of the west side of town overnight.
Late Saturday night, a faulty “lightning arrestor” – a device that protects electrical equipment from lightning strikes – at 945 Main Avenue went bad, said Indiana Reed, spokeswoman for La Plata Electric Association.
As a result, the system did as it was supposed to do: shut down for safety reasons, Reed said.
Around 11:21 p.m., a total of 1,906 customers who rely on the west side substation, which includes the northwest part of downtown Main Avenue over to the Crestview area, lost their power.
Crews began repairs right away, Reed said, which allowed parts of town to slowly have their power restored. By around 1 a.m. Sunday, all customers had their electricity back on, whether they knew it or not.
“I was sleeping, so I didn’t even know about it until this morning,” Reed said. “It was really just a piece of equipment that went bad, and they got out there changed it and got everyone back on.”
Reed said the system requires no further repairs Sunday.
A spokesman with the Durango Police Department said Sunday morning that there were no complications related to the power outage.
jromeo@durangoherald.com
