Officials on the ground worked to restore power Saturday morning and into the afternoon.
A number of Ohio University students living off-campus were subjected to a Saturday morning without power or Internet after a transformer on Stewart Street failed, severing the top portion of the electric pole altogether.
Power has since largely been restored, according to AEP outage maps.
Lt. Adam Claar of the Athens Police Department said Athens City Fire arrived shortly after the transformer failure to close the road. A section of Stewart Street was still closed when a Post reporter arrived at the scene around 1:30 p.m.
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APD and Ohio University Police officers were present at the scene to monitor traffic while an AEP technician to extinguish the burning pole. Claar said he was not sure how long the repair will take. An AEP spokesperson could not immediately be reached for comment.
A student living on Elliott Street said the power outage occurred around 11.45 a.m.
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Houses on Elliott Street were among the areas affected by the power outage caused by the transformer failure.
Officers reopened the road at about 1.40 p.m. An Athens Engineering and Public Works personnel was also seen at the site shortly after Stewart Street was reopened.
About 1,200 American Electric Power customers in Athens County are experiencing outages, according to the company's website at about 3 p.m. By 8 p.m., about 100 went without power.
