Hundreds affected by S.L. power outage

Hundreds of Salt Lake City residents were left in the dark Tuesday afternoon.

At about 4 p.m., high winds apparently downed several power lines around the city, plunging hundreds of customers of Rocky Mountain Power into the dark. About 400 were affected in the area around 1500 South and 300 West. Three other locations in the city, including about 100 customers a few blocks south of the University of Utah, 456 customers at about 3500 South and State Street and 75 at about 2300 South and West Temple, went dark in the same time frame.

During the same hour that Salt Lake City's power went out, downed power lines affected more than 200 people in three separate locations in West Valley City. As of 5:30 p.m., power had been restored to only one of those areas.

Rocky Mountain Power did not have an expected time that power would be restored, said spokesman Jeff Hymas. Crews have to move from one site to another, he said. The company is still investigating why so many power lines went down between 3 and 4 p.m., but they've had multiple reports of high winds that were a possible factor, Hymas said.

The power company urges anyone who sees a downed power line to stay away from it and call 911, as well the company at 888-221-7070, to report it.

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