ED3 restores power after Saturday storm causes outages

The microburst that ripped through Maricopa Saturday bringing a deluge of rain and leaving broken tree limbs and debris in its wake also took its toll on some Electrical District No. 3 customers.

“The microburst knocked down 34 poles, and they were all fairly new poles,” said ED3 spokesperson Danielle Orozco. “It snapped them two to 10 feet off the ground, not at the surface.”

The downed poles, which all were in a single line, caused outages for 795 customers in the Ralston Road and State Route 238 area. The outage lasted about 90 minutes.

Orozco said the downed line took out ED3’s Hidden Valley substation, causing the loss of two circuits. The outage of the two circuits overloaded a third circuit, causing it to go out as well.

Orozco noted that downed lines can be extremely dangerous and should be treated with extreme caution.

“Always assume all power lines are energized,” she said. “You cannot tell whether a line is energized or not by looking at it.”

She also offered the following safety tips for anyone encountering a downed power line.

• Move as far away as possible from the lines and any object they are in contact with, as they can be energized as well. A downed line can energize the ground up to 35 feet away – even further in wet conditions.
• Do not drive over a downed power line or through water that is in contact with the lines.
• If a line falls across your vehicle, do NOT exit your vehicle as you could become a path for electricity if you touch the ground.
• If you are in immediate danger and must leave a vehicle with lines fallen on it, hop out as far as you can, land on both feet, then hop or shuffle until you are at least 32 feet away.
• If you see someone who is in direct/indirect contact with a downed line, do not touch the person. Call 911 immediately for help.