Power out in areas of Logan and on campus Thursday night

Logan was hit with a wide-scale power outage Thursday evening. Several businesses, multiple traffic lights and even some parts of campus were affected by the outage.

The outage was due to a transformer (an electrical device that transfers electrical energy) that went bad, said Dixie Swenson, administrative assistant at the Logan Light and Power City Office. The power was out for just under two hours, starting at 5 p.m. until right before 7 p.m.

Swenson said areas that were without power were switched to a different circuit. The electrical substation where the transformer went out was bypassed, and the power was distributed to two other substations.

Businesses along the North side of Main Street were generally the places that lost power, including Morty’s Cafe, Smith’s Marketplace at 442 N 175 E and even the Logan Regional Hospital. Some places like the hospital and Smith’s were able to use generators until the power was returned.

The emergency lights at Smith’s came on after a few minutes when the generator kicked in, said Holden, a grocer at the store. Smith’s employees immediately started taking preventative measures, by placing dry ice with food items that needed to stay frozen or refrigerated, he said.

The sections with fresh produce were covered with plastic sheets and regularly watered to keep up with the timed system that was down. The store stayed open and functioning for customers, and everything was back to normal by 6:20 p.m.

Other businesses such as Old Navy, Ulta Beauty and PetSmart, were unable to stay open for customers and were forced to close early.

The power outage hit Logan during the city’s rush hour time and with multiple traffic lights out, which led to backed-up traffic. Intersections without power were being treated as four-way stops.

“It was interesting to go from work to what is typically a low-traffic area, and find that lines of cars were waiting for their turn at the new four-way stops,” said Crysi Wilson Muhwezi. “I nearly witnessed several accidents, and crossed my fingers that those in the turning lanes wouldn’t be forgotten. Especially the students on bikes who braved this traffic, despite the odds.”

Swenson said that this is the first time this much power in Logan has gone out in quite awhile.

Some Logan residents took to Twitter to either make light or complain over the affects of the outage.

“The entire TOWN of Logan’s power is out….. LITERALLY FML,” @Anna_Berkeley tweeted.

“So the power outage can shut down all the signal lights in Logan, but it couldn’t hit the school and get me out of my 1hr45min class?” @thacarterrrr tweeted.

“Aaaaaand the power is out now. Logan winter: 1, Me: 0,” @Allie Laurenn tweeted.

— jillian.mccarthy@aggiemail.usu.edu