Mylar Balloons Cause Large SMUD Power Outage In Orangevale, Folsom
ORANGEVALE (CBS13) – The latest on a large power outage in Sacramento County on Christmas Eve:
9:54 a.m.
Power has now been restored to all customers, SMUD officials say.
Metallic Mylar balloons apparently caused the power outage after they hit a high-voltage substation transmission line.
@SMUDUpdates SMUD personnel have restored power to customers in Orangevale-Folsom-Citrus Heights outage. Caused by metallic (Mylar) balloons in high-voltage substation transmission line.
— SMUD (@SMUDUpdates) December 24, 2019
Thanks for your patience. Please always keep your festive balloons tied down :-)
Officials urge people to keep their festive balloons tied down.
9:39 a.m.
A SMUD official says power to 8,000 customers has been restored.
More than 19,000 customers still remain in the dark. No estimated time of restoration has been given.
The outage appears to stem from a fault in a large bulk substation feeder line. Exactly what caused the fault is unclear.
9:14 a.m.
More than 26,000 SMUD customers are without power in Orangevale and Folsom in an unplanned outage Tuesday morning.
According to the SMUD outage map, more than 20,300 customers in the Orangevale area are without power.
@SMUDUpdates SMUD personnel working safely and quickly to restore power in Orangevale and Folsom. Cause TBD; ETR TBD. Thanks for your patience. https://t.co/R7TLtSGpix for updates.
— SMUD (@SMUDUpdates) December 24, 2019
Nearly 7,000 customers in Folsom are in the dark.
It's unclear exactly what caused the outage, but SMUD says crews are currently working to restore power.
More information to come. Stick with CBS13 for updates.