Uncategorized

UPDATED: Power restored in NE Salem; classes canceled at Chemeketa, Hayesville, McKay

Students walk outside of the new building at McKay High School on Friday, Oct. 8, 2021. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter)

About 3,000 households and businesses in northeast Salem were without power for several hours Thursday, forcing several local schools to cancel classes.

The outage was reported at 10:45 a.m. and was due to an equipment failure, according to Portland General Electric’s outage map.

The failure was due to a malfunction, utility spokeswoman Andrea Platt said. Crews were able to restore power at 1:30 p.m., earlier than expected, by switching to deliver power from another source while repairs continue, she said.

The outage included McKay High School and Hayesville Elementary School. Students at both schools were being dismissed early because of the amount of time needed to restore power, district spokesman Aaron Harada said.

After school activities at McKay were canceled.

Parents at the schools have were notified. At Hayesville, students were using flashlights in classrooms and other back-up lights, according to an announcement to parents. All students are safe at both schools.

Chemeketa Community College said on Twitter that it would cancel all classes until 4 p.m. due to the outage at its Salem campus.

-Rachel Alexander