DEATH VALLEY (KTNV) — Power has now been restored at Death Valley National Park after a weekend thunderstorm caused outages for three days.
According to park rangers, the thunderstorm caused a power outage around 4:45 p.m. on Saturday, July 13.
The National Park Service discovered the issue was a blown-down powerline from a Southern California Edison substation leading to the Furnace Creek Visitor Center, National Park Service offices, and employee housing.
Rangers said it was not possible to drive to that section of the pole line and they had to use a helicopter to replace the downed pole.
Power was fully restored at 7 p.m. on July 16.
The recent heat wave that passed through our region meant the park was at least 125 degrees for nine consecutive days, peaking at 129.3 degrees Fahrenheit on July 7.
Rangers said this was the park's second-longest streak of high temperatures at or above 125 degrees, just behind the 10-day streak, which was measured in 1913.