Power back on for nearly 5,000 in NE Bend

Nearly 5,000 Pacific Power customers in northeast Bend lost power Thursday for about 45 minutes afternoon, knocking out traffic lights and leaving stores, homes and assisted living centers in the dark.

Utility spokesman Tom Gaunt said the outage began around 2:45 p.m. and affected 4,928 customers. The utility’s Oregon outage Web page at first said repairs were under way and estimated a 6 p.m. restoration of service, but it said power was restored just before 3:30 p.m.

Gaunt said crews confirmed that “wires did get together that shouldn’t have gotten together. They don’t know why — it was not windy.:

“None hit the ground,” he said. “They didn’t have to reroute power, there was just a small amount of damage right there where the wires had been crossed,” on the power lines along 27th Street near Highway 20.

Traffic lights were out in the area, including Hwy. 20 at Purcell Boulevard, police said. The outage affected the Forum Shopping Center, including Costco, visitors said.