Email
Print
Transmission line failure leaves 14,000 without power Friday morning
ADVERTISEMENT
Published: October 3, 2008
A tree crew in Davie County was responsible for the power failure that left half of Statesville in the dark Friday morning.
Statesville City manager Rob Hites said the tree crew damaged one of Duke Energy's transmission lines Friday morning before 7:30 a.m.
Around 14,000 Statesville residents were left without power while Statesville Utility and Duke Energy crews retraced the Duke Energy lines that feed Statesville's substations.
"I suspect that there is a tree crew in Davie County that is in a fair amount of trouble right now," Hites said.
Statesville Police and Fire Departments handled traffic at major intersections while the power was out, Hites said.
"It's not on the city system," Hites said. "Some of our substations are working. As soon as Duke finds the failure and repairs it everything will be normal."
Hites said Duke Energy had to find the problem with the transmission line before it rerouted, or backfeed, electricity to people's homes.
Backfeeding is when electric power flows in the opposite direction from its usual flow.
Once the energy provider was able to find the problem and isolate the line, then it focused on bringing the lights back on, Hites said.
"They have to know what is wrong before they start backfeeding otherwise they can cause a huge problem sending power up a damaged circuit," he said.
Email
Print
