Power outages hit Carson, Douglas

It was nature over civilization on Sunday when two power outages struck in Douglas County and Carson City.

NV Energy Spokesman Karl Walquist said a power outage at 3:20 p.m. in south Carson City affected 5,500 customers from Sunridge north, including two shopping centers at the top of the hill.

"The outage was caused when a distribution line tripped and locked out a circuit at a Carson City substation," he said.

Target, Home Depot, Walmart and Costco were affected by the outage, forcing some to close and others to reduce services.

On Sunday, Walquist said a portable cabana blowing into a power line may have been responsible for the outage.

Traffic lights along Highway 395 from Jacks Valley Road north to 5th Street were affected by the outage.

Walquist said service was restored at about 5 p.m.

At about 1:05 p.m. Sunday, a brief outage affected Genoa and areas along Foothill Road.

Walquist said that outage had been traced to a bird roosting on a power line.

When the bird came in contact with the line, it caught fire and set a small brush fire about a mile west of Highway 395 on Muller Lane.

Firefighters put out the blaze and called an NV Energy crew to the scene.