GR power outage caused by faulty cable

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - More than 1,200 Consumers Energy customers lost power Monday evening. But it was restored at around 9:10 p.m.

Those affected were in the area of 28th Street near Breton Avenue, and extending east. The outage occurred around 6:23 p.m.

The exact boundaries were: Burton Street to the north, Woodlawn Street to the east, 28th Street to the south and Okemos Drive to the west.

The outage was caused by a faulty underground cable installed in the 1970s, a Consumers Energy representative said. It can't be fixed until the snow melts, which probably won't be until spring.

The cable wasn't fixed last spring because it only started to be an issue in January.

Consumers Energy switched power from one circuit to another in the area, so there shouldn't be any more outages, the representative added.

Most of those affected were commercial customers, although a small number may have been residential customers.

Grand Rapids police officers were directing traffic in some of the larger intersections, due to stoplight outages.

For more on w ho was affected, watch 24 Hour News 8 reporter Dani Carlson's report (at left).