High winds knock out Valley Power

Wind was the culprit causing the power outage that affected part of Saratoga and the southern part of the Valley Saturday afternoon.

High winds caused the 7.2 KiloVolt (KV) line to break at the Cow Creek distribution line, which only affected a few people, according to Carbon Power and Light’s General Manager Chuck Larsen.

Another problem that caused a major outage affected Carbon’s 34.5 KV sub-transmission line that serves the Crow and Encampment substations, Larsen said. The linemen sectionalized the line south of the Highway 130/230 junction within in an hour which restored power to Brush Creek and Ryan Park.

The linemen then patrolled the line from Highway 130 to Encampment and could not find a break in the line. Larsen said he suspects the wind had caused the wires to touch because when the linemen reset the breaker, the power was restored.

All of the power was restored within two-and-one-half hours.

According to the National Weather service in Cheyenne, wind speeds in Saratoga reached a top speed of 47 miles per hour on Saturday. Interstate 80 near Arlington had the fastest winds in the county with a peak wind speed of 75 miles per hour.