Afternoon Power Outage Affects 1,500 Fairwood Customers, Causes Traffic Backup on Maple Valley Highway

UPDATE: 5 p.m.

Power in the Fairwood area along Maple Valley Highway was restored just before 5 p.m., said Puget Sound Energy spokesperson MacKenzie McDowell.

The reason for the outage remains unknown.

"It was probably a tree branch that tripped the system," she said.

Traffic is expected to lighten now that power has returned to the area.

ORIGINAL STORY: 4:30 p.m.

A power outage in the Renton/Fairwood area along Maple Valley Highway is causing traffic backups.

Puget Sound Energy started receiving calls that power was out in the area around 3:30 p.m., said spokesperson MacKenzie McDowell.

About 1,500 customers are affected, as well as the evening commuters traveling along Maple Valley Highway from Maplewood Golf Course past 140th, and as far east as 167th Place Southeast.

"The traffic was backed up for miles," reported Patch contributor Susan Bressler just after 4 p.m.

The reason for the outage is unknown, McDowell said, adding that a serviceman and a substation supervisor are currently en route to the power substation. Another crew is patrolling the line near 167th in Fairwood, she said.

Patch will update this story as more information is available.