Power outage affects some in Perryville

Some Perryville, Missouri, residents suffered a power outage lasting about three hours Monday morning.

Kelli Behrle, communications specialist for Citizens Electric, said the outage occurred at around 7 a.m., and more than 1,700 customers were affected.

According to Behrle, Citizens Electric employees witnessed loud noises and bright flashes at the St. Joe substation. Operations crews and the engineering team are still working to officially confirm the cause of the outage. However, Behrle noted that a starling and a sky lantern were found near the scene causing suspicion either the bird or the skylight could have caused the equipment damage and outages.

Damage was extensive enough to require a complete substation shutdown to replace a set of high-voltage switches and conductor, after which workers electrically tested and re-fused the substation transformer, she said.