TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) – A widespread power outage impacted the tucson area Wednesday, November 12, causing traffic signal failures and at least one reported traffic accident.
Tucson Electric Power (TEP) reported the outage began around 2 p.m. at a 46-kilovolt substation serving multiple areas of the city. At its peak, more than 18,000 TEP customers lost power. TEP stated the outage lasted one hour and 10 minutes.
“We inspected our system but could not identify a cause,” TEP said. “After determining it was safe to re-energize our equipment, we were able to bring most customers back into service. We’ll continue to inspect and monitor the substation and related systems.”
As of 4:30 p.m., approximately 300 TEP customers remained without power.
The outage resulted in numerous reports of non-functioning traffic lights in Tucson and oro Valley. The Oro Valley Police Department (OVPD) dispatched officers to direct traffic along Oracle Road.
The OVPD confirmed at least one crash occurred as an inevitable result of the power outages. Authorities are urging drivers to use alternate routes to avoid congestion and to treat intersections with inoperable traffic signals as four-way stops.
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