Power back on for Springfield following AM outage

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - The lights are back on for thousands of  Western Massachusetts Electric Company customers in Springfield, after power was knocked out to nearly 1/3 of the city at one point Tuesday morning.

WMECo spokesperson Sandra Ahearn told 22News that there was a trip of a transmission line at the Clinton substation near Downtown Springfield at around 8:10 A.M., causing the blackout.

It is unknown at this time what caused the trip of the transmission line.

The blackout knocked out all the lights on Sumner Avenue from the "X" west down to Longhill Street, as well as in other parts of the Forest Park neighborhood. Power was also out in parts of Downtown, Six Corners, and the North End. Businesses closed temporarily as merchants waited for their electricity to come back on.

Baystate Medical Center is among the major customers that lost their power supply from WMECo during the outage, but the hospital remained running on generator power, according to spokesperson Ben Craft. He said that the main power supply to the hospital has since been restored.

At the "X" and at other major intersections, Springfield police were called out to direct traffic until the lights came back on at around 9:30.

The utility company tweeted that power was restored to nearly all customers in Springfield at around 9:40 A.M. By 10:10 A.M. power was back on for all customers across the city.

At the height of the outage, 19,842 customers, or about 31% of the city, was without power at around 9:20. Power outage numbers fluctuated as crews worked to end the outage.