MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A wind gust may have caused circuit breakers to trip, cutting power for about 20,000 customers Monday night, MLGW says.

MLGW officials said the outage was triggered at 8:13 when multiple circuit breakers were tripped at three substations. Most customers had power restored within two and a half hours or less.

But many were left wondering how the power could go out when there was no storm in the area.

MLGW President Doug McGowen spoke to City Council members Tuesday morning, and the outage came up at the beginning of his presentation.

He said wind gusts reached more than 30 mph Monday, though he didn’t know whether the winds caused lines to touch.

But he said the utility company is continuing to replace outdated parts like those that failed.

“This emphasizes why we are replacing outdated infrastructure,” McGowen said. “That circuit breaker that failed was 57 years old, and it was on our list to be replaced in this next five-year infrastructure plan. So, as we predicted, it failed.”

McGowen told us MLGW has finished around 51% of what they are supposed to complete in 36 months.

“We are well ahead of schedule but we have more work to do,” he said.

The outages were mainly in the Berclair, Midtown, Orange Mound, and University areas.