Equipment failure and a traffic accident caused two power outages that left more than 2,000 Vicksburg Entergy customers in the dark Wednesday night and early this morning, Entergy spokesman Don Arnold said.

Arnold said the first outage, at about 7:24 p.m., was at the utility’s east substation on Porters Chapel Road. It occurred when the connection between a power line and a transformer at the substation failed. He said 1,260 customers in the Porters Chapel, North Frontage Road and Highland Drive areas lost electricity for about three hours.

The cause of the outage is under investigation, but lightning might have been a factor, he said.

In the second outage, Arnold said, 1,139 customers in the Belva Drive and Grange Hall Road areas off U.S. 61 South were without power from 12:57 to 2:48 a.m. today after a vehicle struck a utility pole at Belva Drive and U.S. 61 across from Cooper Lighting. He said the impact of the accident broke the pole, which held lines for two circuits. The vehicle had left the scene by the time line crews arrived, he said.

Arnold said the crew removed the pole and left the wires hanging. He said a crew was expected to replace the pole today.