The power has been out in parts Downtown Anchorage much of the day.
Melissa Wolf, a spokesperson for Municipal Light and Power, says the outage started around three in the morning and crews have been working all day to fix it, but they haven’t pinpointed the cause.
“Some people did receive power and then it went out and it’s because of the trouble shooting that we’re doing to find the cause. One of the problems was a transformer needed to be replaced on top of the JCPenny’s Garage. And it wasn’t the cause but we did need to fix that to go forward with the repairs. And right now we don’t have and estimate on when the power will be restored,” Wolf said.
The outage is affecting ML&P customers between A and F Streets and 5th and 8th Avenues. It’s impacting commercial and residential customers.
Wolf says there is concern about the power being out much longer because temperatures are so cold.
The Anchorage Police Department has been notified as well as the Anchorage Fire Department. Though Wolf says many of the commercial buildings do have generators.
Temperatures are expected to be between 10 and 15 degrees overnight.
Wolf says customers without power, who have not reported it, should call ML&P.
Updates will be posted on their Facebook and Twitter accounts.
Daysha Eaton is a contributor with the Alaska Public Radio Network.
Daysha Eaton holds a B.A. from Evergreen State College, and a M.A. from the University of Southern California. Daysha got her start in radio at Seattle public radio stations, KPLU and KUOW. Before coming to KBBI, she was the News Director at KYUK in Bethel. She has also worked as the Southcentral Reporter for KSKA in Anchorage.
Daysha's work has appeared on NPR's "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered", PRI's "The World" and "National Native News". She's happy to take assignments, and to get news tips, which are best sent via email.
Daysha became a journalist because she believes in the power of storytelling. Stories connect us and they help us make sense of our world. They shed light on injustice and they comfort us in troubled times. She got into public broadcasting because it seems to fulfill the intention of the 4th Estate and to most effectively apply the freedom of the press granted to us through the Constitution. She feels that public radio has a special way of moving people emotionally through sound, taking them to remote places, introducing them to people they would not otherwise meet and compelling them to think about issues they might ordinarily overlook.
