WATONGA – Much of the city of Watonga lost power overnight Thursday and into Friday, social media activity showed, leaving residents confused as to what the problem might be.
Thursday featured none of the stormy, windy weather generally associated with power outages in the area.
Local man John Morris kept residents apprised of the situation with periodic Facebook posts on Thursday night. He said electric company OG&E was dispatched to find the problem, and announced the power was back on with a post at 1:41 a.m. Friday.
OG&E responded to a question from the Watonga Republican with a statement explaining the situation. It read:
“On Thursday, Aug. 19, a deteriorated underground power line caused an outage in the City of Watonga. An OG&E technician was able to determine the line was owned by the city, and immediately notified them of the issue. Knowing the replacement of the line could take some time to arrange, OG&E worked with the city to switch the electricity feed to get power back to the residents of Watonga as safely and quickly as possible. The replacement of the line is currently being handled by the city. OG&E will be ready to switch the feeds back to normal as soon as the city’s line replacement is completed.”
Morris and Warren Rice, Watonga's light and water superintendent, could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.