9:15 a.m. UPDATE
More than a thousand Hope-area residents might have found it easy to oversleep Friday morning – all because of a balloon.
Crews for Duke Energy report that a helium-filled Mylar balloon, a popular choice for birthday parties, weddings, anniversaries and other celebrations, was the cause of a power outage that knocked out electricity to over 600 homes and businesses in the northeast Bartholomew County community, Duke Energy spokesman Chip Orbin says.
That same problems knocked out electricity to over 1,000 customers of Bartholomew County REMC, utility spokeswoman Marty Lasure said.
Instead of being made from one material such as latex, Mylar balloons have an interior much like nylon, while the exterior features a thin layer of aluminum foil.
When one of these helium-filled balloons got into electrical equipment, it caused havoc by tripping a number of electrical fuses that resulted in the outage, Orbin said.
The first notices of the problem were sent out to Duke customers at 3:12 a.m. Friday morning. All of them had their electricity was restored shortly after 6 a.m., Orbin said.
By around the same time, all but 120 REMC customers had their power restored. Lasure said every home and business served by her rural cooperative was expected to have electricity back close to 9 a.m.
8 A.M. UPDATE
The power restoration time has not been pushed back to 9:30 a.m., according to Bartholomew County REMC.
ORIGINAL STORY
HOPE — The Hope substation serving Bartholomew County REMC customers is experiencing an outage due to Duke Energy needing time to de-energize to fix an issue, officials said this morning.
Power has been rerouted to restore electricity to some customers, but others may not have power restored until 8 a.m.
