30-Min. Blackout Strikes Cambridge

Three thousand customers of Cambridge Electric Light Company were without power for almost a half hour yesterday afternoon when an equipment failure caused outages in several areas of Cambridge, including parts of Harvard.

The blackout hit sections of East Cambridge, Central Square and Harvard Square. At Harvard, the main office of Buildings and Grounds and offices on both Plympton and Linden streets lost all power between 1:15 p.m. and 1:30 p.m.

The power failure occurred after a cable broke at the Blackstone street power plant, an electric company spokesman said yesterday, adding that the company's use of substitute lines made the outage only temporary.