FAULTY LINE BLAMED FOR OUTAGE

Union Electric Company didn't have very far to look Tuesday to find the source of a power failure that darkened homes and business in some areas of Cape Girardeau.

UE spokesman, A.D. Cox said one wire of a high-voltage feeder line failed around 8:45 a.m. in front of the Union Electric Service Center at 45 S. Minnesota.

"We're operating on emergency power even as we speak," said Cox. "We won't know what caused the wire to fail until we can examine the ends."

Cox said about 3,500 Union Electric customers were affected by the power failure. "Most of the customers were back on in about 30 minutes," he said.

Cox said the feeder line ties in with several electrical substations in the central and west end of Cape. Protective circuit breakers at each of the substations relayed when they detected a fault on the high voltage line on Minnesota to prevent damage to the substation transformers.

The eastern part of the city and the downtown area were not affected, although the lights did flicker several times as the protective relays in substations in those areas of town opened then immediately closed.

Cox said, "Most of the substations were off about 30 minutes until we could switch around the trouble on the line, and reset the breakers at each substation. The last substation to go back on was the West End station, which is near our service center."

While the power was off, Cape Girardeau police officers were dispatched to direct traffic through some of the more heavily traveled intersections on Kingshighway, Broadway and William Street. The incident occurred near the end of the morning rush hour.

"It could have been worse," said Sgt. Carl Kinnison of the Cape Girardeau Police Department. "Anytime you lose your traffic signals it's bad."