Up to 20 residents on Pennock and Gravina Islands lost power Tuesday evening. As of late Wednesday afternoon, Ketchikan Public Utilities officials hoped to get the power back online that evening.
At deadline, KPU Electric Division Manager Tim McConnell said if the work can’t be done by Wednesday, crews will be back out at first light Thursday morning.
McConnell said it appeared that the underwater cable was pulled, perhaps by a passing tugboat, at about 4:45 p.m. Tuesday near Clam Cove.
“We got a call from Bailey. They had received two or three customer calls that the power had gone out, and one customer said that at the time the power went out, she observed the tug and barge going by in the vicinity of the undersea cable that powers the island,” he said.
McConnell said the utility sent out a diver and repair crew Wednesday morning, and they found damage that could have been caused by a passing boat catching the cable.
He said a 150-foot section of cable was involved. The crew planned to use two splices to replace that section of cable before sending it back down approximately 70 feet to the ocean floor.
Updated information is available through the city’s information line, 225-INFO.
