MIDDLEBURY — A large portion of Middlebury village and a smaller area in southern New Haven lost power on Tuesday afternoon for between 20 and 110 minutes due to an equipment failure, according to Green Mountain Power Spokesperson Kristin Kelly. 

GMP crews believe the equipment that failed “was likely damaged during recent storms this winter,” Kelly said in an email to the Independent.

The problem was located on Seminary Street near its intersection with North Pleasant Street. Seminary Street was closed to through traffic late on Tuesday afternoon near North Pleasant Street, and a detour was set up. A fire truck and another truck with a cherry-picker attachment were sent to the scene. 

Kelly confirmed that power went out to 590 customers at about 3:50 p.m., and it was restored at 5:40 p.m. Kelly also reported that in order to make repairs, “For safety during their work, (crews) had to turn off a line which affected an additional 1,040 customers for 20 minutes during that time.”

Kelly did not specify exactly where the customers were that were affected. Power in the Buttolph Acres area flickered on and off several times before finally shutting off for almost two hours. According to one source Hannaford Career Center also lost power for the longer time span. The Independent offices on Maple Street in the Marble Works lost power for the shorter period.