Work continues on restoring electricity to floors 7-16 in Franklin Towers

Power on the upper floors of Franklin Towers has been off since Aug. 26. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

Workers were making repairs to the electrical system in Franklin Towers in Portland on Tuesday and hoped to restore full power to the upper floors of the Cumberland Avenue apartment building by the end of the week.

Cheryl Sessions, executive director of the Portland Housing Authority, said a temporary fix completed last week is continuing to supply partial power to the apartments on the seventh through 16th floors of the building, which lost electricity after a strong thunderstorm hit Portland on Aug. 26.

On Tuesday, Sessions said that workers were cutting out and removing a “bus bar” that failed during the thunderstorm and caused the outage.

The Housing Authority last week ordered a new bus bar, which helps distribute power in the building, from a supplier in New Mexico. It was supposed to arrive Friday, but Sessions said she hasn’t received confirmation that it is in Portland, but was assuming that it had arrived.

The building, which was built in 1969, has 200 apartments for elderly and disabled residents.

The entire building lost power in the aftermath of the storm, but electricity was restored to the first through sixth floors the next day and power remained on for hallways, elevators, fire alarms and safety systems throughout the building. However, power stayed off in apartments on the upper floors.

The housing authority provided extension cords for residents to plug into outlets in the hallways to keep their refrigerators running, and a temporary fix last week provided some power to two or three outlets in the upper apartments. But residents couldn’t run equipment that drew a lot of electricity, such as air conditioners.

The housing authority also has arranged to have three meals a day brought in for residents because they can’t use stoves or microwaves in their apartments.

Sessions said she will be updated on the status of the work Wednesday and learn whether the electrical contractor making repairs will be able to meet the goal of a permanent fix by the end of the week.