Dust on power line leaves 15,000 in dark

Dust collecting on a major transmission line combined with light rain Tuesday night to trigger a power outage affecting 15,000 Avista customers. The power outage occurred just after 9:30 p.m. Service was restored to about 10,000 customers by 10:03 p.m. on the South Side and in southeast Spokane, but another 5,000 customers waited for several hours for lights to return, an Avista spokeswoman said. Service was restored to most customers by 3 a.m.