Surprise Power Outage in South Salem Affects Thousands

Power is expected to be back on this evening.

Walmart Pharmacy was closed due to the power outage. Photos by Crystal Young

(SALEM, Ore.) - South Salem went dark today just after 4 pm, affecting PGE customers, as well as street lights and retailers by the score, equating to thousands of people affected on this hot summer day.

South Salem Walmart customers found themselves walking in the shadows, as well as Goodwill and other stores in the area.

Hundreds of would-be buyers were asked to leave Walmart after about 10 minutes of waiting for the lights to come back on, just to find themselves in slow moving traffic, without any working stop lights. Traffic congestion was an immediate consequence of the power outage.

The culprit was apparently a nearby power transformer that failed. The investigation continues regarding what exactly caused the large scale outage.

According to the PGE outage map, estimated restoration time is after 6 p.m.

For more information, go to PGE outage Map.

Photos by Crystal Young