December 28, 2023 5:30 a.m.

Broken insulators led to a lengthy power outage for thousands of Roseburg area residents on Wednesday.

The power went out at approximately 8:20 a.m. Pacific Power Regional Business Manager Sam Carter told News Radio 93-9 FM and 1240 KQEN that the incident caused both circuits to go out at the south gate substation. Carter said that facility feeds power north towards downtown Roseburg and south along Highway 99 South.

The outage included south Roseburg and the downtown area to around Southeast Cass Avenue. It stretched west along West Harvard Avenue as far as West Harrison Street. 3198 customers were out.

The power came back on to most impacted customers at around 11:20 a.m. As of Wednesday afternoon, Carter said crews were not sure why the insulators broke. He said that is still being investigated.

The outage caused all Brooke Communications radio stations to be off the air as the outage area included Mt. Nebo and the fairgrounds, where radio towers are located. All stations continued to offer their programming through the online stream at www.541radio.com