Power restored to thousands in South Salem after record-high temps, surge in power use caused outage

Update 8:50 p.m. 

Power has been restored to most of the Portland General Electric customers in South Salem who started losing power around 5 p.m., PGE spokesperson Francie King said. 

Twenty-seven customers in South Salem are still without power, and crews are working to restore electricty by 10:30 p.m., King said.

Most of the outages are heat-related, but one outage was because of a fallen tree, she said. 

Original story

High temperatures and a surge in power usage has knocked out electricity in South Salem, affecting more than 7,000 customers. 

Temperatures reached a high of 97 degrees Wednesday, a record-breaking temperature for Salem, according to officials at the National Weather Service in Portland. 

The power went out around 5 p.m., according to PGE spokesperson Francie King.

"Everyone is using their air conditioning," King said. "One transformer was overloaded. (Crews) are transferring the load so we can bring power back as soon as possible."

Portland General Electric officials said customers are expected to regain power around 8:15 p.m. 

Customers can check the PGE outage map for updates. 

The story will be updated when more information is available. 

Virginia Barreda is the Breaking News Reporter with the Statesman Journal. She can be reached at 503-399-6657 or at vbarreda@statesmanjournal.com. 

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