Lightning Strike Cause Equipment Failure, Power Outages Across the Area
An equipment failure at a local substation caused by a lightning strike is what caused the loss of power in much of Gogebic County and northeast Iron County yesterday. Approximately 10,633 customers lost service in Hurley, Mercer, Ironwood, Bessemer, Wakefield and Ramsey. Crews were quickly on scene and were able to isolate the problem and reroute service while technicians made repairs. Some residents received texts and emails alerting them to the outages. Virtual learning in the Mercer School District reported some difficulties with virtual learning, as students didn’t have access to the internet during the outage.