Fallen tree cuts power to nearly 30,000 in Erie and Millcreek
A fallen tree near a Penelec substation on Old French Road cut power today to about 29,000 customers in Erie and Millcreek, said Penelec spokesman Todd Meyers.
The tree fell at about 2:45 p.m. on East Gore Road, taking out an electric line to the substation, which then opened a circuit that affected other parts of the system, Meyers said.
"They're all interconnected," he said. "So those numbers (of affected customers) go up quickly."
Power was reported out all over Erie and south Erie, including the Erie Zoo, but returned about 45 minutes later as the fixes were made to the system. Fire trucks responding to the outage were seen around Perry Square. Others reported outages as far west as McDowell High School.
Spectrum, the cable and internet company also reported an outage.
Meyers said a "small number" of Penelec customers were still without power at around 4 p.m., but were expected to be restored soon.
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This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie power outage: Fallen tree knocks out power to nearly 30,000
