About 5,500 NV Energy customers in south Carson City lost power on Sunday after a portable cabana apparently blew into a power line on Ponderosa Drive south of Clearview Drive.
Spokesman Karl Walquist said the power outage started at 3:20 p.m., shutting off traffic lights along south Carson Street from Fifth Street to Jacks Valley Road.
Shopping centers also lost power, forcing many to scale back services or temporarily close while law enforcement helped direct traffic on a congested U.S. 395.
Some residents near the power line say they heard an explosion before the power went out.
"We had a really weird gust of wind come through, almost like a massive dust devil and then we heard the loud bang," said Kymber Estes in an e-mail. "And then everything went out."
She said her children were playing near the power line when the cabana hit it. They called her to come check it out.
"It's not very often you see Jeff Gordon products hanging from a power line," she said.
NV Energy officials restored power at about
6 p.m. - just in time for football, Estes said.