An underground cable failure left parts of Sitka without electricity for several hours on Saturday morning. Areas of downtown and Japonski Island lost power at 6:55am Saturday, November 9.
While most of the city’s electricity runs through overhead wires, Sitka’s downtown core is served by high-voltage underground cables. Those are subject to occasional failures, said Sitka Utilities Director Christopher Brewton.
“This thing was 30 plus years old” Brewton said. “That’s one of the downsides to underground cables, is as they age, there’s no scientifically proven method to test the integrity, so they fail. It’s just part of the process with underground [cables].”
A city crew had to hunt for the damaged section, and found it near Seward Street just before 10am. Power was restored to the affected areas just after noon.
