A large swath of Alameda experienced a power outage just as the business day began on Thursday, April 4. Shortly before 9 a.m. Alameda Municipal Power (AMP) residential and business customers from Bay Farm Island all the way west to the Sherman Street area lost power. Cellular service for major carriers and traffic signals were also disrupted in those areas.
The City issued an AC Alert at 9:22 a.m., stating that all power had been restored. However, at that time, power had been restored to Bay Farm Island, and much of the island of Alameda, but many AMP customers in the area around Park Street, including City Hall and the Alameda Post offices, remained without power. Finally, at 10 a.m. power was fully restored to all affected customers.
On Thursday afternoon, AMP Senior Communication Specialist Kim Ish provided the Alameda Post with the following statement: “Today, Alameda experienced a widespread outage that affected the Eastern end of the island and Bay Farm. AMP personnel responded quickly and dispatched crews who restored power to most customers within 30 minutes and all customers within 75 minutes. A tree branch was found to have contacted AMP’s power lines.” She confirmed that the branch fell near the intersection of Broadway and Tilden Way.
Reports on social media claimed witnessing a transformer explode and hearing “loud bangs,” and Alameda Fire Department was dispatched for a call of a fire at the location at 8:51 a.m. Only two AFD units were assigned to the call, which it was closed seven minutes later. AMP trucks were observed working in the area as well.
AMP posts outage information on its website and Twitter/X [login required]. To report an outage, call 510-748-3900.
Adam Gillitt is the Publisher of the Alameda Post. Reach him at [email protected]. His writing is collected at AlamedaPost.com/Adam-Gillitt.
