Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Spring Membership Drive


Donate now to support local news and music on WBOI

Circuit Breaker Issue Causes Power Outages

AEP Indiana Michigan Power

Many residents in the north and northwest parts of Fort Wayne were left in the dark earlier today, which affected nearly 10,000 residents. The outage was first noticed at 10:50 am this morning and went into the early afternoon.

Indiana Michigan Power’s Principal Communications Consultant Tracy Warner says the problem stemmed from the company’s circuit breakers.

“Just as in your home, you have circuit breakers and if the circuit breaker detects a problem, it basically cuts off power to that circuit to avoid the problem becoming worse,” said Warner.

The outages came during yesterday’s showers, when wind speeds peaked around 30 miles an hour.

But despite the high wind conditions throughout the day, Warner says it is too soon to identify weather as the primary culprit of the outage.

“The circuit breaker basically caused essentially two substations to go out of service," said Warner. "And we’re still investigating the underlying cause.”

Indiana Michigan Power repaired most of the outages by early afternoon.

As of Wednesday at 4 pm, there are still 1,176 outages in the Fort Wayne area according to the company’s outage map. You can get updates on power outages at indianamichiganpower.com/outages.

Zach joined 89.1 WBOI as a reporter and local host for All Things Considered, and hosted Morning Edition for the past few years. In 2022, he was promoted to Content Director.
Related Content