Areas near Penn’s campus were affected by a power outage Tuesday afternoon.
Approximately 360 customers lost electricity in an outage that began at about 2:30 p.m. due to an issue with an underground cable, according to PECO Energy Company spokesperson Kathy Lentini.
By approximately 4:45 p.m., all affected power customers were back online, according to Lentini.
She said did not know if any University properties were affected.
The traffic signals at the intersection of 38th and Spruce streets were not operational during the outage.
The Philadelphia Police Department came to direct traffic at 3:00 p.m.. At 4:00 p.m., two Division of Public Safety officers arrived at the intersection to take over.
“We’re just trying to keep people safe,” one of the DPS officers directing traffic said.
Many of the restaurants and stores on the 3700 block of Spruce Street — including Wawa, Green Street Consignment Shop, The UPS Store, Penn Campus Hair Salon and Saladworks — closed down temporarily during the outage.
“If someone wants to drop something off, that’s fine,” UPS Manager Ryan Apponick said. “But if it requires electricity, we’re definitely closed.”
Nearly all of the stores and restaurants reopened once power came back on.
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