SMITHFIELD, Cache County — Nearly 9,000 power customers were in the dark for up to four hours Wednesday following an equipment failure, according to Rocky Mountain Power.

The outage began around 7:40 p.m. when a jumper — a cable that connects to power lines — failed near the company's Green Canyon substation in Smithfield, said spokesman Jeff Hymas. He said it took crews some time to identify the problem and repair it.

"It's tough to find problems when you have to patrol lines in the dark," Hymas said.

At the height of the outage, Hymas said, a total of 8,829 customers were without power in the communities of College Ward, Hyrum, Logan, Nibley, Paradise, Providence, River Heights, Wellsville and Young Ward.

Power was fully restored shortly before midnight.

— Geoff Liesik