Power outages hit Valley

Firefighters are on the scene of a blown transformer behind 616 Appaloosa Lane in Ruhenstroth. Power is out to any of the homes surrounding the transformer.

Electrical outages hit the Valley throughout last night.

The largest occurred at 3 a.m. when a circuit out of the Pinenut Station tripped cutting power to 3,000 NV Energy customers from the Gardnerville Ranchos along Highway 88 to Woodfords. A power company crew reset the circuit at 4:10 a.m., but couldn't locate the source of the trip.

Spokesman Karl Walquist speculated it could have the result of winds slapping power lines together.

Power company crews are out patrolling the lines looking for the source of the outage.

A power line down cut power to customers in Coleville and Walker at 1 a.m. Their power was restored at about 5 a.m.

A vehicle accident on Muller Lane a mile east of Foothill knocked down a power pole that resulted in the closure of Muller for a few hours.

The pole was replaced, but Walquist didn't know how many customers were affected by the damage.

Monday's storm is being blamed for the 3:53 p.m. accident.

According to the Nevada Highway Patrol, a 2002 Chevrolet Suburban driven by Gardnerville resident Gloria Burrel, 53, was eastbound on Muller Lane when she hit a patch of ice and left the roadway, hitting the power pole.

There is also a report of power problems at the Minden-Tahoe Airport.