Barbara knocks out power

HILO — While the former-Hurricane Barbara was too weak to cause significant damage to the Big Island, it still succeeded in knocking out power to much of the island Monday.

As rain lashed the windward side of the island Monday morning, power outages struck residences and businesses across the island from Hilo to Kona and several communities in between. Hawaii Electric Light Co. spokeswoman Kristen Okinaka said the power outage affected about 51,000 customers.

Power was restored to most customers within 30 minutes of the outage, with the last affected customers restored by early afternoon.

Okinaka said the power outage was caused by faults on two transmission lines that disconnected independent power producer Hamakua Energy Patners from the greater power grid. The cause of the faults is believed to be wind- borne debris interfering with the lines, Okinaka said, although crews were still investigating late Monday.

Read more: https://www.westhawaiitoday.com/2019/07/08/hawaii-news/barbara-knocks-out-power/