Partial Power Outage Reported

Updated Post | 8:04pm

City staff have determined that this evening's outage, which impacted 275 electric services, was the result of a private tree trimming operation that inadvertently allowed large debris to fall onto nearby power lines. This impact caused the breaker at the substation to open and drop power to a portion of northwest Osawatomie. Crews encountered some issues with the breaker but were able to get it to close and hold in the closed position. Once the breaker was closed, crews carefully isolated areas and slowly restored power in an effort to not overload the circuit and trigger the breaker open again.

Once its respective circuit is converted to the upgraded voltage as part of the City's ongoing city-wide conversion plan, the breaker that failed will no longer be in service. Officials anticipate this circuit to be completely converted by the time school resumes session in approximately one month.

Officials would like to remind residents to not cut trees near power lines without the assistance of qualified professionals, or without contacting City staff before beginning trimming.

Thankfully no injuries were reported during, or as a result of, this incident.

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Original Post | 6:38pm

City of Osawatomie electric crew members have responded to a faulty breaker at the power plant substation. This breaker caused the outage to a portion of northwest Osawatomie, and likely failed due to a higher than normal electric demand.

While members of our team are on site and working diligently to correct the issue, there is not currently an estimated timeline for the repair to be completed. Thank you for your continued patience and understanding.

We will update this announcement as needed.

This notification has been distributed via the City of Osawatomie's official website, the official Facebook page, and the General Alerts subscription option via TextMyGov.