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High winds cause outages in parts of Saipan
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Posted on Dec 12 2008
Parts of Saipan experienced power interruptions Thursday night and early Friday morning due to high winds brought by a tropical depression passing near Rota.
In a statement issued yesterday, the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. said an aged pole in Feeder 4 failed and burned the power pole Thursday at 7:17pm.
“The line crew made all necessary coordination with the power plant to de-energize the power to the area to begin the repairs,” said CUC.
The fire was controlled and terminated and the line crew restored the power at 8:38pm.
At 10:02pm that same night, Kiya 4 automatically tripped due to a failed primary line connection. The connection had deteriorated causing the line to fall and resulting in a primary neutral short, which tripped the feeder. Attempts to repair the problem were made and the feeder was restored at 10:58pm.
At 10:19pm, Feeder 4 and 7 also automatically tripped due to a failed pole top pin in front of the Kagman High School. The problem was identified and isolated and the repairs initiated. The repairs were completed and the feeder was fully restored at 12:06am.
At 11:04pm, Kiya 4 again automatically tripped due another failed primary connection. Because the problem had occurred in a heavily vegetated and dense location of the Chalan Kiya golf area, the line crew was not able to immediately address the problem and restore power to the affected areas. The lateral was isolated and all other remaining portions of the Kiya 4 were restored by 11:41pm.
The following morning the needed heavy equipment was used to clear an entrance for the line crew and their trucks to perform the necessary repairs and all vegetation was cleared to minimize future power interruptions in the area.
“The CUC apologizes for any inconvenience the…power interruptions imposed on the community and [it] will continue to work diligently to perform the necessary system maintenance to minimize future power interruptions,” said the CUC statement.[B][I] (CUC)[/I][/B]
