UPDATE: Most of the areas affected by the power outage had power restored by 12:45p.m. Less than ten electric customers were still without power, which is estimated to be restored by the middle part of Friday afternoon.

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Nearly 4,000 electric customers in the Salina area lost power around 10:30 a.m. Friday morning and according to the Westar Energy outage map, power is expected to be restored by 12:30p.m. Friday afternoon. Westar Energy says the outage was caused by an animal getting into equipment.

The outage has affected Lakewood Middle School in Salina as well as traffic control lights in portions of northeast Salina. Southeast of Saline school on K-4 is also without power. Students after they have lunch will be dismissed for the day and buses began running at 11:30.

The outage has also affected electric customers in northern Saline County, and the Tescott, Bennington, Ada, and Delphos areas in Ottawa. County.