Cause for weekend power outage unknown

Tuesday, June 28, 2005 | 8:50 a.m.

No cause has been determined for weekend power outage in Boulder City that left every home and business in the community without power for two hours.

Power for nearly 8,000 customers in Boulder City was restored at 1:30 a.m. Monday, city officials said.

About 11:30 a.m., Boulder City Police reported seeing a large flash south of the area of Buchanan Boulevard near the Mead substation.

Boulder City Electric Utility Administrator Ned Shamo said city crews went to the scene and examined transmission lines from the Mead substation but no problems were found. In order to restore power to the entire city, the feed from the Mead substation was transferred to a Boulder City backup transmission, he said.

The power was transferred from the backup system to the Mead substation at 9 a.m. Monday, and no problems were reported, officials said.

Shamo said one possible explanation is that the line temporarily short circuited because of balloon, bird or squirrel. Lines short circuit if there is contact between two lines or a line and a pole, he said.