It was cold and blustery on Tuesday evening as high winds blew a tree onto some power lines on Highway 64 near The Bascom causing a power outage in downtown Highlands along Main Street, said Highlands Town Engineer Lamar Nix.
Power was knocked out around 11 p.m. on between 3rd and 4th streets along Main Street and stayed down for a little over an hour. While street lamps and several storefronts were dark inside, there were a few businesses with generators keeping things illuminated.
“We had 40 to 50 mile and hour wind gusts,” said Town of Highlands Mayor Pat Taylor. “A tree or branch can fall on a line and shut part of the system down. A branch as small as a pencil diameter can be blown in the air from a tree that is away from a line and still short the system out in a given situation.”
Stop lights at 4th and Main streets were operational, while the lights at 5th and Main streets were out. Power was restored around 12:20 a.m. on Wednesday morning.
Pictured at the top of the article is the intersection of Main and 4th streets in downtown Highlands on Tuesday evening around midnight.
Article and photos by Brian O’Shea
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