116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Power outage left some Cedar Rapids customers in extreme heat Wednesday
It occurred around 3:30 p.m., and Alliant Energy crews restored power by 7 p.m.
Aug. 24, 2023 12:12 pm, Updated: Aug. 25, 2023 10:06 am
CEDAR RAPIDS — An Alliant Energy power outage left some Cedar Rapids customers, including medical and university buildings, without electricity in the height of Wednesday’s heat.
Around 3:30 p.m. that day, the company became aware of malfunctioning switch gear that caused an outage to areas of Cedar Rapids, said spokesperson Melissa McCarville. Around 53 customers were without power, including UnityPoint – St. Luke’s Hospital, Cargill’s soybean plant, parts of Coe College and some medical offices.
The Cedar Rapids Downtown Library — a popular cooling center during extreme heat — announced it was affected by the power outage Wednesday at 4 p.m. Its phones were down as well. An hour later, the library closed early due to the unresolved outage.
Residents at Geneva Tower, a downtown community of affordable senior apartments, also experienced the power outage Wednesday afternoon.
At the time of the outage, feels-like temperatures in Cedar Rapids hovered around 118 degrees. Ambient air temperatures reached 100 degrees, breaking the previous heat record for the day. The last time temperatures in the metro area hit triple digits was Aug. 30, 2013.
Alliant crews were able to restore power just before 7 p.m., about an hour ahead of the original estimated time of restoration of 8 p.m., McCarville said. The cause of the malfunction is still being evaluated.
The Cedar Rapids Downtown Library opened again Thursday morning at normal hours.
Brittney J. Miller is the Energy & Environment Reporter for The Gazette and a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues.
Comments: (319) 398-8370; brittney.miller@thegazette.com
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