Oak Ridge Today

Substation problem knocks out power

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A substation problem knocked out power to a significant number of customers on Sunday evening, the Oak Ridge Electric Department reported on its Twitter feed.

However, city workers later reported that temporary repairs had been made and power restored.

Still, there was a higher risk than normal of more power outages, the city said.

Residents and businesses reported outages on Wade Lane, West Hutchison Circle, West Outer Drive, Pennsylvania Avenue, and at Cinemark Tinseltown movie theater and the businesses around it.

Electric Department: Power restored in Oak Ridge

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Oak Ridge Electric Department Crew

An Oak Ridge Electric Department crew works late into the night after a violent storm Thursday. Above from right are ORED Crew Chief Aaron England, lineman Tom Lance, and apprentice lineman Mike Goodpasture.

All power has been restored, the Oak Ridge Electric Department reported about midnight Thursday, roughly six hours after violent storms roared through East Tennessee, causing widespread damage and power outages, and trapping visitors in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

In Oak Ridge, the city staff reported outages in Rarity Ridge and on Berwick Drive, Bear Creek and Berea roads, Warwick and Hoyt lanes, and Andover, Iris, and East Wadsworth circles.

Residents reported outages in other locations from West Outer Drive and Montana Avenue to Grove Center and Oak Ridge Turnpike.

Officials in the Oak Ridge Electric Department said they didn’t know how many customers lost power Thursday.

But a few hours after the storm, by 10:30 p.m., the Electric Department reported that only a few scattered small outages remained, and most, if not all of those, were due to fallen trees or branches.

Woodland Storm Damage

Oak Ridge Electric Department crews had to remove a tree limb that had fallen into power lines on South Purdue Avenue.

In Woodland around midnight, a three-man crew cut down a Bradford Pear tree limb that had fallen into a power line on South Purdue Avenue. Crew members had been working non-stop since about 6 p.m., when the ferocious storms blew south from the Ohio River Valley, bringing 70-mph winds and knocking out power to tens of thousands of customers in East Tennessee.

The city provided updates during the storm on Twitter. That Twitter feed is available at https://twitter.com/#!/corelectricdept.

Meanwhile, officials at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park confirmed that two people died during the storms.