MOSES LAKE - Storm systems traveling through the Columbia Basin are blamed for at least four power outages this week in Grant County.

A Tuesday outage near Moses Lake affected about 50 light industrial and residential customers, including REC Silicon and Eka Chemical.

A second outage was reported Tuesday in Warden.

On Wednesday, an outage occurred at the White Trail area near Ephrata because of a small fire on a 115 kilovolt pole, according to Thomas Stredwick, a Grant County PUD spokesperson, on Thursday.

Power was out for about 80 irrigation and residential customers from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.,

Another power pole fire near Mattawa resulted in about 400 customers losing electricity from 3:20 p.m. until 5 p.m.

It appears the outages were due to dust and precipitation settling on equipment, causing electrical current to flash over insulators, he explained.

"The outages that have occurred over the past few days are not unusual given the types of weather scenarios we are experiencing throughout the Columbia Basin," he stated. "Grant PUD remains committed to providing reliable electric service to the customers of Grant County."

Jeffrey Cote, a Spokane-based National Weather Service meteorologist, said the largest storm system came through Moses Lake Tuesday night. The storm system slowly moved through Wednesday and started to pull off to the southeast Thursday.

"Now it's just exiting the area," he explained. "We have been having periods of precipitation associated with it."

He couldn't comment how the weather affects transmitters, but it does happen, he acknowledged.

Winds between 5 to 10 mph were reported west toward Ephrata and southwest of town.

Winds between 15 to 25 mph were blowing in the Beverly area Thursday.

"A combination of all those factors could exasperate the situation," he commented.

Stredwick offered the following tips to customers if their power does go out:

* First check the fuses and breakers in your electrical service panel. If they are OK, check to see if your neighbors have power.

* Call Grant PUD at 800-216-5226 to report the outage. You may be asked for information, or you may hear a message if someone else has already reported the outage.

* Turn off and unplug all sensitive electrical equipment, turn down your thermostat and turn off your water heater circuit breaker.

* Keep refrigerator and freezer doors closed.

* Try to be patient - crews work as fast as they can to safely restore your service.