More than 8,300 Portland General Electric customers in the Portland area were without electricity Wednesday afternoon, KATU reported, just as western Oregon temperatures climbed toward 100 degrees. The timing made the outages especially risky for people depending on air conditioning or fans to stay cool.
With the region under intense heat, the outages added another layer of stress for households, businesses, and anyone relying on air conditioning or fans to get through the day.
What happened?
By roughly 4 p.m. Wednesday, KATU reported, Portland General Electric was reporting 55 outages affecting more than 8,300 customers. At that time, the utility said the cause had not yet been determined.
Among the places hit were areas near Highway 217 around Greenburg Road and Hall Boulevard, including Washington Square Mall. More than 1,000 customers in Portland’s Goose Hollow neighborhood were also without service…