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PAROWAN — A “catastrophic failure” at Rocky Mountain Power’s Parowan Valley substation early Saturday caused extended power outages in Parowan, Brian Head, Paragonah and Parowan Valley.
Early Saturday, Rocky Mountain Power said it hoped to restore power by 6 a.m., but as of 8:45 p.m. Saturday night, 1,805 residents in Iron County were still experiencing outages, according to Rocky Mountain Power’s outages map. The utility said it is hoping to have power restored by Sunday at 8 p.m.
On Saturday afternoon, the company's official Twitter page said the cause of the outage is due to a loss of transmission to the substation.
"We are in the process of gathering necessary equipment from outside facilities to assist with restoration efforts," the company tweeted.
According to a press release from Parowan officials, they and the Parowan Power Co. are working with Rocky Mountain Power to establish a temporary power supply to the city.
The temporary solution will require rolling blackouts in the town, which will “consist of turning on sections of the city for four hours at a time.”
“It is important that residents do their best to conserve power and energy and not turn on your air conditions or other appliances that consume large amounts of power,” the release stated. “If there is too much draw on the temporary solution it will cause it to fail.”
Meanwhile, city officials said they are working on setting up a temporary power source to water wells to maintain the culinary water supply. Residents are advised to not use culinary water for outside uses until the power outage is resolved.
Those who have an in-home electric oxygen machine or other electrical medical equipment are advised to contact their equipment service provider. City officials said they have been in contact with home health care providers who said they would deliver any extra or needed medical equipment 24 hours a day until the situation is resolved.
Residents can sign up to receive local alerts through Iron County's Citizen Alert System site.
