Downtown power failure left some with no way out

Wednesday, September 5, 2001 Jill Riepenhoff and Encarnacion Pyle Dispatch Staff Reporters

The power went out in parts of Downtown yesterday, trapping hundreds of commuters in elevators, parking garages and on city streets.

Columbus firefighters scrambled from one office building to another as reports of stranded elevator passengers streamed in for at least 90 minutes.

One person was stuck at the Franklin County Courthouse. Another was between the third and fourth floors at the Capital University Law School. Two at the National City Bank. Three at Mount Carmel West.

Within an hour, firefighters had rescued people from seven elevators.

The problems began shortly after 4:30 p.m., when an American Electric Power transformer malfunctioned on Civic Center Drive.

It cut power to 10,800 customers Downtown and on the West, South and East sides -- an area roughly bounded by Broad Street, Parsons Avenue, Frank Road and Larcomb Avenue.

Two other transformers -- equipment that acts as a motor to help electricity flow -- should have been able to handle the overflow, but one was out of service, said AEP spokeswoman Terri Flora.

The third couldn't handle the demand and broke down, she said.

Just before 8 last night, service had been restored to all customers.

Without power, Downtown office buildings closed, sending some workers home early and putting them onto roads -- some without working street lights -- all at once.

No injuries were reported, but the congestion pushed commuters' patience to the brink.

Police officers were out in force to direct traffic through Downtown intersections.

"You're a godsend,'' Maryellen Kubrick shouted to one officer. "I didn't know whether to stop or keep on going. Both seemed a shot in the dark.''

A COTA bus trying to escape the traffic jam on Broad Street plowed into a parked firetruck responding to elevator problems in the National City Bank building.

The bus lost its sideview mirror in the fender-bender. Its passengers lost their ride home.

"It's been a little wild,'' Joe Liddle, acting Columbus fire battalion chief, said as he waited for COTA officials to conclude their investigation.

Security guards were forced to temporarily close the Franklin County Municipal Court building, usually open 24 hours a day.

"Great. This is just great,'' LaToya Thompson of Clintonville complained. "I have to pay my court fees today. I waited to the last minute, and I can't afford to get into trouble.''

Without electricity to operate electronic exit gates, motorists were held captive inside the Capital Plaza parking garage near 4th Street for an hour.

A frustrated motorist who said he was a lawyer finally persuaded the attendant to open the gates and allow the drivers to leave for free.

Several people turned the outage to their advantage.

"I can't cook when there's no power,'' said Joyce Karins of German Village, accepting a large pizza from a delivery man at her door. "Oh, darn.''

Others took it in good humor.

"This must be a sign,'' said John Mathias, standing outside the German Village Blockbuster, which was closed because of the outage. "I guess I'll just have to go to the gym instead of sitting in front of the boob tube.''

Don Seipel was halfway home and far from the mayhem of the center city when his boss called him to go back Downtown.

"Anybody who can get here, get here,'' the boss instructed.

Seipel is an elevator technician for Otis Elevators.

"Funny thing, when the power goes out the elevator doesn't work real well,'' said Seipel, a 25-year Otis veteran who yesterday helped with elevator rescues at the courthouse.

"It could have been a lot worse.''

http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/news/news01/sep01/830971.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), September 05, 2001

Answers

ATMS out, people trapped in elevators. Sounds like something that I have heard before somewhere.

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), September 05, 2001.

Hi martin, It sure does sound like a mess! All utilities are "modern conveniences" the way I see it and we may very well lose them at any time. But in stating my viewpoint, I wonder how many feel as though we would NEVER have a total loss of those conveniences..?

-- Tess (anon@tess.com), September 06, 2001.