Hawaiian Electric continues power restoration efforts after lightning outages

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Lightning strikes caused dozens of power outages across Oahu, leaving tens of thousands of customers without electricity.

Read more City leaders celebrate opening of Makiki Banyan affordable housing project

Hawaiian Electric said crews restored service to about 5,000 customers throughout the day, but roughly 32,000 customers remained without power as of 9 p.m. Friday, most of them in West Oahu.

Hawaiian Electric spokesperson Darren Pai said crews worked overnight to restore service while dealing with continued lightning activity across the island.

Officials said a lightning strike sparked a fire at the Kahe Power Plant switchyard shortly after 3 p.m., damaging equipment and contributing to the widespread outages.

“Lightning is extremely hazardous and it creates a lot of different types of risks,” Pai said. “The utility poles and our bucket trucks tend to be some of the tallest structures that you’ll find out there.”

“Before we could start the restoration process, that fire needed to be extinguished,” he said. “We had to wait for everything to cool down sufficiently so that crews could actually safely work on the damaged equipment.”

Hawaiian Electric said restoration work was also slowed by ongoing cloud-to-ground lightning strikes.

Officials are encouraging residents to use the outages as a reminder to review emergency plans and supplies ahead of hurricane season.

Anyone experiencing an outage is asked to report it online or at Hawaiian Electric’s Trouble Line at 1-855-304-1212.

Read more First Alert Forecast: Wet trade wind conditions for Sunday into Monday

View updates on HECO’s Oahu outage map.