Posted on: Saturday, December 15, 2001

Outages on Young, Ke'eaumoku snarl traffic

Advertiser Staff

Two power outages during the afternoon rush hour yesterday snarled traffic in the Kaka'ako and Ala Moana areas.

At about 5:15 p.m., several people reported hearing an explosion on the 1300 block of Young Street, said Hawaiian Electric Co. spokesman Fred Kobashikawa. Soon after, the electricity went out in the surrounding area and knocked out the traffic signals along Ke'eaumoku Street.

Power was restored about 45 minutes later, Kobashikawa said. But the traffic signals weren't reset for at least another half-hour, causing a major traffic headache.

Kobashikawa said the outage began when a device on a utility pole that is supposed to protect against lightning malfunctioned and exploded. He said he did not believe a lightning strike caused the device to blow up.

At about 4:15 p.m., power along Cooke Street near Kapi'olani Boulevard went out and also affected traffic lights in the area. The electricity wasn't restored until about 5:55, Kobashikawa said.

That outage was blamed on an underground cable failure, he said.