By MINDY KEPFIELD and MADELINE REIDA

Staff writers

Marion residents sick of power failures lighted up social media during the city’s latest blackout.

The failure of the city’s power grid knocked out electricity both in its downtown and in north hill neighborhoods.

Some didn’t mince words as Main St. businesses closed and flickering power caused problems with expensive appliances.

“The city needs to offer a rebate program to people that buy generators,” said resident Dorothy Shipman. “This is ridiculous.”

Alex Case, owner of Case & Son Insurance, closed his office after failed attempts by city crews to restore power.

Case said his office lost power at 2:30 p.m., and was restored, briefly, 40 minutes later.

When the electricity snapped on and shut off again a half-hour later, Case decided he’d had enough and went home.

“We have no electricity, no phone, no internet, and no air conditioning,” Case said. “There’s not a lot I can get done like that, and I’m not gonna sit there in a building that gets one degree hotter every five minutes.”

The power failures forced mechanics at Webster Auto Service to hustle to serve customers.

Barry Allen had to quickly reassemble a truck on one of the shop’s lifts to keep it from becoming stuck there.

Mechanics could work by hand with flashlights, but progress would be slow, he said.

On several occasions, Allen has waited hours for the city to restore power so he could shut the shop’s 100-pound doors.

He has had to lower them by hand more than once so he could go home.

“We never used to lose power like this all the time,” Allen said.

Lanning Pharmacy was one of several Main St. businesses that installed generators after repeat power failures last year.

They were running on it Thursday, employees said.

Samantha Turk, who lives on N. Roosevelt St. said outages in the city are causing problems with her home’s appliances.

A year-old heating and air conditioning system has begun “acting up” after being repeatedly shut down and reset after power failures.

“I have no doubt that if this continues, I will have to replace my fridge and eventually spend a lot of money to get my air conditioner and heater fixed as well,” she said.

Preventing damage to appliances has become a part of Turk’s daily routine. She unplugs her microwave, toaster, lamps, and coffee pot before leaving the house.

“Just in case the power goes on and off,” she said. “So they won’t get fried, too.”

The city announced the power was back on in Marion’s north hill Thursday afternoon as crews moved to Main St.

Residents were asked to cut back on their use of electricity because hot weather had the system running at capacity.