A five-hour power outage affected 289 Athens County residents Saturday evening, including several businesses on East State Street.
From 5:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., residents near Strouds Run State Park and East State Street were without power, said Terri Flora, spokeswoman for American Electric Power.
She attributed the power outage to a break in an electrical pole.
“We did find a broken cross arm and an insulator, which is the device that insulates the pole from electrical contact, and that was broken as well,” Flora said.
Gran Ranchero, 979 East State St., closed early without electricity. Manager Joel Ortiz estimates the restaurant lost about $3,000 in potential Saturday dinner sales.
Ortiz said he was told power outages occur occasionally in Athens, and was happy he could keep his food from spoiling.
“We just put everything in the freezer and it was able to stay cold,” Ortiz said.
Ruby Tuesday, 951 E. State St., and Abrio’s Brick Oven, 859 E. State St., were not affected by the power outage. Both Ruby Tuesday Manager Cathy Hillyer and Abrio’s Manager Stephen Burke said they saw an increase in business, but were not sure if it was because of a local high school basketball tournament taking place or the power outage.
Managers from both Walmart, 929 E. State St., and Kroger, 919 E. State St., declined comment. Kroger stayed open through the outage but closed its frozen food section.
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