A transformer explosion in North Lewiston left more than 1,100 Avista customers without electricity Thursday evening, triggering a brief but disruptive outage across a swath of the city.
The affected area extended from the 21st and Main streets corridor north toward 12th Avenue. Avista crews initially projected power would be restored by 11:30 p.m., but service came back roughly an hour ahead of schedule at approximately 10:30 p.m.
Police Direct Traffic as Signals Go Dark
With traffic signals offline, Lewiston police officers stepped in to manage intersections during the outage. For approximately 30 minutes, motorists navigated several busy crossings without functioning lights. Officers remained at key locations until the grid came back online, at which point traffic flow returned to normal. Authorities noted that some officers may have simultaneously been responding to unrelated calls during the same period.
This is the latest in a series of power-related disruptions to affect the Lewiston area. A power outage earlier Thursday evening had already impacted roughly 1,100 customers before the transformer incident compounded concerns about grid reliability in the region.
Avista serves a large portion of Nez Perce County, and outages of this scale can affect businesses, traffic management, and emergency services simultaneously. No injuries were reported in connection with the transformer failure.
What Comes Next
Avista crews worked to restore service ahead of their projected timeline, and normal conditions returned to the affected neighborhoods by mid-evening. Residents with ongoing concerns about service reliability are encouraged to contact Avista directly. Lewiston police have not released additional details regarding the specific cause of the transformer failure or any related infrastructure assessment.