Tree downing begins odd incidents in SE neighborhood
by Michael Russell, The Oregonian
Tuesday March 03, 2009, 10:41 PM
A Rube Goldberg-like series of events ended this afternoon with houses in Southeast Portland evacuated and a woman being assisted by the Red Cross, the Portland Fire Bureau said.
Lt. Allen Oswalt, a bureau spokesman, offered this theory of the chain of events:
A tree being cut down in the 3800 block of Southeast 114th Avenue fell onto a power meter, driving a live wire into the ground. That electrified plumbing, melting solder in household pipes and flooding a home.
But Brianne Hyder, a Portland General Electric spokeswoman, thought Oswalt's theory didn't hold water.
According to Hyder, PGE responded after a tree fell onto the power meter of a man's home, knocking out his electricity.
"Across the street, there was a woman who somehow burnt up the service entrance cable to her home" -- a separate line, Hyder said.
PGE technicians told her the woman might have had a water heater problem that led to the flooding.
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