Power finally restored for hundreds of Mainers at Franklin Towers
Upper floors of the Portland high-rise were without power for nearly a month
Upper floors of the Portland high-rise were without power for nearly a month
Upper floors of the Portland high-rise were without power for nearly a month
The Portland Housing Authority says power has finally been fully restored at Franklin Towers. The announcement on Thursday came almost 4 weeks after the electrical system for floors 7 through 16 was damaged, leaving residents without power inside their apartments.
Franklin Towers is a 16-story high-rise apartment building with 200 subsidized apartments for elderly and disabled people living in its 200 subsidized apartments. The Towers is controlled by the Portland Housing Authority.
The outage impacted more than 100 apartments, forcing residents to run extension cords to outlets in the hallways, where there was power, to keep refrigerators running.
The Housing Authority said electricians had to bypass the damaged part of the electrical system and that permanent replacement of the system still needs to be done. The system that powers the lower floors was replaced this summer.
In a statement, the Housing Authority said "While we cannot rule out future short-term interruptions as the existing system is switched over to the new system, we are committed to mitigating the disruption for our residents."
Affected residents have been provided with grocery gift cards to replace lost food and are getting a 20% rent concession.