The malfunction of a couple of nearby electrical transformers cut power to Shady Maple Smorgasbord, East Earl Township, and forced it to close during the midday rush Saturday, Herb Noll, general manager, said.
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The lights went off at 9:45 a.m. and were restored by PPL 5½ hours later, Noll said.
The drop in voltage caused computers to crash, water pressure to plummet and several electrical motors to burn out, Noll said.
The outage knocked the air conditioning and the bathrooms out of commission, Noll added, and a small amount of gas escaped from some stoves, leading officials to evacuate the popular eatery and market.
"We actually had significant smoke in portions of the building," he said.
"We have 9,000 customers on a Saturday" and missed a large chunk of that trade as business was diverted to other local restaurants.
According to Noll, the power loss also impacted Good's Store and Country Home Furniture
Noll said he did not know what caused the transformers to malfunction.
As of Saturday evening, he said, "Everything's fixed. We came back up with full power at 3:15 p.m. and we reopened at 4."
Jon Rutter is a staff writer for the Sunday News. His e-mail address is jrutter@lnpnews.com.
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