Power still out for many Eastern Iowans

UPDATE: Nearly 1,000 electricity customers were without power Tuesday morning in various parts of Linn County.

In Cedar Rapids, a section of southeast Cedar Rapids lost power around 6:30 a.m. when a large tree branch fell on power lines in the 600 block of 19th Street SE. About 560 customers in the area were affected, officials said.

Alliant Energy spokesman Scott Drzycimski said power would be rerouted which would allow a large chunk of customers to regain service soon.

One of the biggest headaches was caused at the intersection of Mount Vernon Road and 19th Street SE, where stoplights were not working. Traffic coming into downtown Cedar Rapids was delayed a bit more than normal due to the four-way stop the outage created.

Customers were also being turned away from the Cenex gas station on the corner.

Near Troy Mills, about 310 Alliant customers were also without power after a transformer failed, Drzycimski said. Officials hoped to get all back online by tonight. Drzycimski said it officials were uncertain if the issue was weather-related.

In Benton County, about 460 Alliant customers were still without power one day after powerful storms tore through the area.