ST. GEORGE — Power was out for more than 5,000 customers on the eastern side of Washington County from Leeds to Zion National Park for much of the morning before being restored by noon.
Update Jan. 31, 11:49 a.m. Power has been restored
Rocky Mountain Power said the outage was first reported at 8:57 a.m. and is affecting 5,520 of its customers. Customers have reported outages in Hurricane, Laverkin, Toquerville and Leeds, along with Rockville, Springdale, Apple Valley and Hildale.
Jona Whitesides with Rocky Mountain Power said the cause of the outage is a down transmission line, which goes either to a substation or a network of distribution lines.
“Think of it like a tree branch, with the transmission line as the trunk,” Whitesides said. “If the trunk is gone, everything else is gone.”
Whitesides said by 9:46 a.m., about 4,100 customers were without power. Crews were dispatched and power for most was restored by noon.
Temperatures in Hurricane and surrounding communities were in the 20s during the morning and weren’t anticipated to get warmer than 41 degrees this afternoon.
Consumer Reports provides these tips on how to stay warm in freeze conditions during a power outage.
- Seal window and door leaks.
- Use a fireplace and another heat source.
- Camp out indoors
- If using any heat source indoors, be sure to monitor carbon monoxide.
St. George News reporter Jessi Bang contributed to this story.
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