6 workers injured in explosion at Columbia River dam

MATTAWA, Wash. – An explosion at a hydroelectric dam on the Columbia River Thursday injured six workers, but did not compromise the dam’s structure and posed no risk to the public, officials said.

The utility workers were hurt in an electrical explosion at about 4:15 p.m. at the Priest Rapids Dam near the central Washington city of Mattawa, Grant Public Utility District spokesman Thomas Stredwick said.

“The stability of the dam was never compromised,” Grant County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Kyle Foreman said. “There’s no reason for people living around the dam to be worried.”

Officials said the blast caused some electrical power and cellphone outages.

Those hurt have various levels of injuries, Stredwick said, with some flown to hospitals and others transported by ambulance.

Harborview Medical Center spokeswoman Susan Gregg said Thursday evening in a news release the Seattle hospital is expecting two people from the explosion to arrive there for treatment.

Foreman said they’ve found no connection to terrorism or criminal activity related to the explosion.

Some residents in the rural, largely agricultural area were without electrical power Thursday evening and cellphone service related to the explosion, Stredwick said. He said 911 call service may also have been out briefly.

Multiple agencies responded to the incident.

The Priest Rapids Dam was built in the 1950s and is one of two operated by the Grant Public Utility District along the Columbia River to provide power to residents.