Nearly 4,000 customers were left without electricity yesterday morning in two unrelated outages, one of which occurred when a utility pole on Kapi'olani Boulevard was damaged and its upper half left leaning over nearby homes.

Power to most customers had been restored by 9 a.m. and to all by 4:15 p.m., Hawaiian Electric Co. officials said.

An investigation is under way into how the pole on Kapi'olani Boulevard was damaged, but HECO spokesman Darren Pai said a white pickup truck either crashed into it or snagged a guide wire on the pole.

The pole did not fall to the ground but broke about halfway up.

The traffic accident happened at 7:47 a.m. in the mauka-bound lane of Kapi'olani just before the H-1 Freeway east on-ramp. The crash disrupted traffic and initially knocked out power to about 1,800 customers in the Kapi'olani Boulevard area, Kaimuki and Kapahulu, officials said.

Electricity was restored to all but 75 customers by about 9 a.m. The remaining customers got power by 4:15 p.m.

The damaged pole was near Date Street on Kapi'olani Boulevard, said Pai.

Meanwhile, an unrelated outage in Palolo yesterday affected about 2,000 people. Power went out at 5:30 a.m. and was fully restored by 9 a.m., Pai said.

The outage was linked to a utility pole problem.