(UPDATED at 3:40 a.m. )
Sitka experienced widespread power outages shortly after 1 a.m. on Wednesday morning (12-23-20).
The outage affected Electric Department customers on Halibut Point Road and Sawmill Creek Road, throughout downtown Sitka and on Japonski Island. It lasted around two hours.
In an email to KCAW, Electric Department Director Scott Elder wrote that the windy conditions caused the outage. A damaged tree fell into a transmission line on Jarvis Street around 1:11 a.m. Electric crews removed the tree and power was restored to all of Sitka shortly before 3 a.m.
911 phone lines were temporarily down for part of the outage, according to a post on the Sitka Police Department’s Facebook page.
Sitka was under a “high wind warning” on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, with the National Weather Service predicting wind gusts ranging from 35 to 60 miles per hour.
Original post (2:00 a.m.): Sitka began experiencing widespread power outages shortly after 1:15 a.m. out Halibut Point Road, downtown and on Japonski Island. Due to the weather event, Raven Radio is temporarily off the air. Until our signal is up-and-running again, updates will be posted to our website and Facebook page.
