UPDATED: Over 1,000 Eugene residents lose power during heat wave

This article was updated with additional information.

A day before a heat wave was set to envelop the Willamette Valley, over 1,000 EWEB customers lost power.

EWEB spokesperson Aaron Orlowski said the outage was caused by an excavator.

“Tuesday afternoon, an excavator hit underground power lines, knocking out power to approximately 1,000 EWEB customers,” Orlowski said. “A significant amount of equipment will need to be replaced, including a power pole.”

Power was restored on Tuesday night.

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The outage was reported on EWEB’s outage map. Around 4 p.m. on July 15, the outage map listed 13 outages in EWEB’s service territory. The outage impacted 1,116 customers at the time.

The outage largely impacted the Fairmount and Amazon areas of Eugene. The outage spanned from East 15th Avenue by Hayward Field down to the Masonic Cemetery at University Street and 25th Avenue. The outage area also extended from the YMCA at 24th Avenue to nearly 30th Avenue, impacting portions of the city near South Eugene High School, Theodore Roosevelt Middle School and Camas Ridge Elementary School. 

Hannarose McGuinness is The Register-Guard’s growth and development reporter. You can reach her at hmcguinness@registerguard.com.