After ‘challenging’ 9-hour outage, HECO restores power to Downtown Honolulu - Hawaii News Now
After ‘challenging’ 9-hour outage, HECO restores power to Downtown Honolulu
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - After a nine-hour outage in Downtown Honolulu, Hawaiian Electric crews have completed repairs and restored power to businesses, government offices and residences.
HECO says power to downtown circuits began coming on at about 7:20 p.m. Thursday.
“We know this was an extremely challenging day for our customers in the downtown area and Chinatown, especially businesses and government offices. We thank them for their patience and offer our sincere apologies for the disruption,” said Darren Pai, Hawaiian Electric spokesperson.
HECO says repair crews and technicians will remain on standby overnight and monitor the downtown network — along with Iwilei substation where equipment was damaged by the event.
The state Supreme Court, Hawaii State Capitol, and Bank of Hawaii were among the long list of institutions impacted by the outage, which started about 10 a.m. State offices without power were closed to the public and a number of large businesses reportedly sent workers home for the day.
“We know this is a huge disruption to all of our customers in this area,” Pai said, earlier in the day.
The outage was blamed on damage to an underground cable that subsequently caused an overload of power to the Iwilei substation. The outage stretched from Chinatown to the Capitol District and included major office buildings, condominiums and key government buildings.
While 900 customer accounts were out, many of those are master-metered office buildings and condos with hundreds of tenants.
At Marugame Udon Downtown, it was a race to fill their fridge with ice.
“We have to move back and forth in Waikiki, our main location, which is Muragame Waikiki, and yeah, it’s a very hassle for me, especially by myself,” said Hideaki, general manager.
“But you know, with the help of Waikiki general managers so it’s pretty good.”
Hideaki said the outage cost them as much as $9,000.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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