COLUMBIA — More than 2,000 homes and businesses in Columbia lost power for almost two hours Tuesday night.
The outage, which started at about 9:30 p.m., was caused by a tree that fell on a line by Capen Park, said Connie Kacprowicz, a spokesperson for Columbia Water and Light. The customers affected by the outage are served by the Grindstone substation, which services the East Campus neighborhood. The boundaries of the outage were roughly Old 63 South, Ashland Gravel Road, College Avenue and Hitt Street, Kacprowicz said.
“We were all getting ready to go out. It didn’t really affect our plans,” said Seth Derstine, a member of the Kappa Alpha Order fraternity on College Avenue.
Some businesses on Ninth Street were also affected, including the Heidelberg restaurant.
“We did what we could to close people out,” said Emily Gordon, a manager at the Heidelberg. “We turned off the gas grills and didn’t open the refrigerators.”
The restaurant lit candles to help patrons see before closing early at 11 p.m.