PUYALLUP, Wash. — Puget Sound Energy (PSE) said that a power outage in Puyallup that lasted from late Monday through Tuesday morning was caused by vandals.
Around 10:40 p.m. Monday, PSE responded to a power outage originating in the North Puyallup area.
When PSE workers arrived in the area on Valley Avenue E just west of State Route 167, they found lines had been cut, causing poles to fall onto energized power lines, resulting in the outage.
The incident led to 17,000 customers being without power through the night, including downtown Puyallup, until 5:30 a.m. Tuesday.
The Puyallup Police Department said that several traffic signals were impacted, warning drivers about potential longer commutes.
On Tuesday morning, Sound Transit warned its customers that the outage could cause light rail delays and several Puyallup schools were forced to delay classes a couple hours.
PSE did not have any further information about who was responsible, but a spokesperson said the power company is working to investigate.
The outage in Puyallup comes about a week after heavy winds and rain caused tens of thousands of western Washington residents to lose power and forced road closures due to downed power lines.
In some areas, it took crews days to restore power to customers.