STAFF PHOTO BY ERIC MEYER
A city crew works Sunday to repair an underground power line that began smoldering after a three-hour blackout ended.
Blackout leaves areas without power for 4½ hours
An apparently wind-related failure in an Evergy (formerly Westar) transmission line southwest of Marion blacked out the entire city and surrounding areas for three hours Sunday.
A subsequent failure in an underground circuit near the county's waste transfer station kept downtown Marion and portions of Marion's north hill without power for an additional 1½ hours.
Power to all areas finally was restored shortly before 4:30 p.m. after city crews excavated and repaired a flooded circuit that failed and began smoldering immediately upon restoration of service from Evergy around 3 p.m.
The blackout, which began minutes after noon, affected Marion, Marion County Lake and a rural area roughly from Canada to north of Aulne, east to US-77, according to Evergy. All City of Marion customers plus 300 Evergy customers and an unknown number of rural electric cooperative customers were impacted.
With gusts reported in excess of 30 mph, the area was at the time under a high-wind warning as well as a freeze warning from the National Weather Service as a front bringing much colder air passed through.
Last modified April 13, 2020