Downed power lines trigger brief Election Day outages, close Old Seward Highway

Nov. 5—Downed power poles in South Anchorage Tuesday morning closed the Old Seward Highway and briefly left more than 3,100 without power as Election Day dawned.

Police dispatchers got multiple calls about a power pole and line down and blocking the highway between 64th and 66th avenues, department spokeswoman Amanda Brimanis said. Officers found at least three poles down, Brimanis said. The cause wasn't immediately known, she said.

Chugach Electric crews were sent to a report of downed wires near 64th Avenue around 6:45 a.m., the company wrote online. More than 1,400 customers near Dowling Road were left without power and another 1,600 were without power near Spenard for roughly an hour early Tuesday.

It wasn't immediately clear what caused the poles to topple.

Julie Hasquet, a spokeswoman for Chugach Electric, said crews isolated the area where poles and lines were down and restored power to a nearby substation, which restored electriciy to nearby homes and businesses that experienced outages.

The poles and wires remained down around 1 p.m. and it was not clear when the road would reopen, said Shelly Wozniak, a spokeswoman for the Anchorage Police Department. Police initially anticipated the road would reopen around noon. The highway is shut down at Sylvan Road, with traffic being diverted onto 64th Avenue.

Strong winds moved into Anchorage early Tuesday.

The National Weather Service issued a high wind warning for Anchorage early Tuesday until noon. East to southwest winds of 30 to 50 mph were forecast with gusts up to 75 mph, the warning said. Gusts could be stronger in Upper Potter Valley and Bear Valley, it said.

Winds began picking up around 1 a.m., and within a few hours a 71 mph gust was reported in Portage, a 60 mph gust was recorded near Bird Point and a gust of 54 mph was recorded in Rabbit Creek, said Tracen Knopp, a meteorologist with the weather service. Just after noon, gusts at 59 mph were reported at Potter Ridge, 53 mph at Glen Alps and 43 mph on O'Malley, meteorologist Michael Kutz said.

There was a winter storm warning in place Tuesday for portions of the Kenai Peninsula. Heavy snow was expected to pair with strong winds, which could reduce visibility and make driving dangerous in the area. By 1 p.m., about 5.5 inches of snow had fallen in Turnagain Pass and it was still falling, Kutz said.

This is a developing story. Check back for details.