It was the flicker felt round the region and had people talking and taking to social media. OPPD officials say the lights dimmed momentarily Monday night from Des Moines to Kearney.
Spokesperson Jodi Baker tells NewsRadio 1110 KFAB a shield wire, which is designed to protect transmission lines from lightning, broke loose near OPPD’s substation at 36th & Cornhusker in Bellevue. "It dropped down into a conductor and that caused five breakers to trip and removed the 345-kilovolt line from service," Baker says.
The contact caused a lowering of the voltage. She says briefly it dipped down even lower when the line was removed from service. That transmission line spans from that Bellevue substation all the way to 108th Street and Blondo Street.
"This is why lights and electronics dimmed or flickered throughout the area," Baker says.
The system is backed up and protected in order to keep electricity flowing reliably. Baker says the reason the flicker was felt along a much broader path is because we are part of the Eastern Interconnect, which spans from east of the Rockies up to Canada and the eastern United States, and south, with the exception of Texas.
"When there's a big energy dip on a big transmission line like this, felt in one place, it may be felt elsewhere, but to a lesser degree the further you go from the source of the trouble," Baker says
Many people living around 36th Street & Cornhusker Road also reported seeing a big flash in the sky. Baker says "that makes sense, given the shield wire falling into a conductor would have caused quite the arc. There were no injuries no power outages as a result.