Underground flooding caused downtown Columbus blackout on Monday

COLUMBUS, Ind. — A Duke Energy power outage in downtown Columbus forced the closure of the Bartholomew County Courthouse and other Columbus City offices on Monday, August 24. About 250 Duke Energy customers were affected.

While looking for the cause of the power failure, Duke Energy workers found four feet of water inside five underground vaults housing electrical equipment that supplies power to the area. 

The blackouts disrupted downtown traffic signals along Lindsey, Brown, and Jackson Streets, creating traffic delays throughout the area.

Utility crews had to pump out the water, inspect the damaged equipment, and complete repairs before restoring the power. This procedure prolonged the outage for the affected customers.

Power that went out early Monday morning was fully restored to the area at around 5 p.m.