Northwest Heat Wave Triggers Blackouts as New York Will Sizzle
- Avista instituted rolling power outages on Monday and Tuesday
- East coast cities now face their own heat wave beginning today
This article is for subscribers only.
The rare and powerful heat wave shattering records across the U.S. Northwest is taking a bruising toll on the region’s infrastructure, buckling highways, hobbling public transit and triggering rolling power outages.
Avista Corp. -- which serves nearly 340,000 customers in eastern Washington, Idaho and Oregon -- instituted rolling outages for the first time in company history as temperatures soared. The periodic blackouts had impacted about 4,667 customers as of late Tuesday, with a total of 21,000 warned that they could face disruptions, the company said. Heat also warped Seattle highways and scorched Portland’s streetcar wires, suspending service.