Parts of Alcoa Highway, Louisville lose power because of storm
By J.J. Kindred | (jj.kindred@thedailytimes.com)
Neighborhoods and businesses near Alcoa Highway and Louisville lost power for approximately two hours and 17 minutes Sunday evening following storms that hit the area.
“We lost a whole substation due to the lighting strike of lighting arrestors,” said Troy Morgan, supervisor for Alcoa Electric Service. “We got the first call after 10 p.m., and power was restored. We had to replace the lighting arrestors to get the substation back up and running.”
The damaged substation also covered the McGhee-Tyson Air National Guard Base, and businesses and homes nearby. McGhee-Tyson Airport was not affected by the outage because they have their own breaker unit, Morgan said, adding that a breaker was lost Monday morning that covers areas such as East and West Millers Cove Road and the Saddle Ridge subdivision, among others.
“It went out for 23 minutes,” Morgan said. “A guy lived next to (the breaker) and got it right back on.
“We’ve had a very rough 24 hours,” Morgan continued. “Our guys haven’t had any off time since 8 p.m. last night. When you get that kind of storm, it’s difficult to keep the power on for everyone.”
Meanwhile, Kate Guillet, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Morristown, said that the remnants of Hurricane Isaac have vanquished, but with moisture still hanging in the air, there were still chances of more showers and thunderstorms in the area.
“There’s nothing significant, just chances of showers and storms in varying degrees each day,” Guillet said. “Going into next weekend, the chances increase again with a new system moving towards the area.”
