1,600 west Calgary homes, businesses to be without power into the night

An equipment failure affecting overhead and underground lines resulted in 1,600 homes and businesses losing power in west Calgary on Friday.

ENMAX said the failure cut power to everyone in West Springs, Strathacona Park, Springbank Hill and Aspen Woods.

The outage happened just after 11:30 a.m., and crews expected it would be fixed by later afternoon. As of 4 p.m., though, ENMAX said restoration will take until 9 p.m.

ENMAX said factors like the frozen ground and extreme cold are making the repairs more difficult.

Residents are advised to prepare for an extended loss of power and encouraged to plan ahead.

A warming centre was opened at 5 p.m. for anyone impacted by the outage at the French and International School in the area.