A pre-dawn power outage snapped thousands of residents awake in southern Salt Lake County on Wednesday, cutting electricity to more than 28,000 people and turning large swaths of Sandy and Draper into cold, dark pockets just as the morning rush began. With traffic signals out and streetlights blacked out across multiple neighborhoods, drivers were left treating major intersections like four-way stops while a winter storm closed in.
According to KUTV, Rocky Mountain Power first received reports of the outage around 3:30 a.m. on Feb. 18. The utility said roughly 28,075 customers in the Sandy and Draper area were hit. Crews were dispatched to investigate, and the company initially projected that power would be fully restored by 12:30 p.m., while cautioning that the estimate could shift as workers evaluated damage and safety conditions.
Winds And Incoming Storm Take The Blame
The blackout arrived as strong southwest winds swept across the Wasatch Front ahead of a cold front, raising the risk of blowing and drifting snow. Forecasts from the National Weather Service Salt Lake City called for 1 to 4 inches of snow on valley floors, with more than a foot possible in higher elevations as the region braced for its first meaningful winter storm of the season.
Earlier In The Week, Tooele Took A Hit
This was not the first round of weather-related trouble. Gusty conditions earlier in the week triggered a separate statewide outage that primarily affected Tooele County, and at its peak, left more than 13,700 customers without electricity before most service was restored, according to FOX13. Utility officials have said that wind has been the main culprit for recent interruptions, more so than heavy, snow-laden lines.
What Rocky Mountain Power Wants Customers To Do
Rocky Mountain Power is urging customers to report outages and to steer clear of any downed lines. The company directs users to its online outage map and encourages them to text OUT to 759677 or call 1-877-508-5088 for updates, according to Rocky Mountain Power. The utility notes that outage locations on the map are generalized to protect customer privacy, and that the information typically refreshes about every 15 minutes. Anyone who spots a downed power line is advised to call 911 first, then report the outage to the utility.
Why Some Neighborhoods Get Power Back First
On its restoration page, Rocky Mountain Power explains that “we initially set estimated restoration times to about three hours from the time of the first outage report,” with crews fine-tuning that estimate once they have a handle on the damage and safety issues. In large wind events, workers focus first on transmission lines and substations that can restore service to the greatest number of customers; from there, they progress down the system to distribution lines, neighborhood circuits, and finally individual homes.
