Section of Whitemud Drive briefly shut down due to hanging power wire

A busy section of Whitemud Drive was briefly shut down in west Edmonton Friday, leading to a traffic nightmare during the afternoon rush.

Edmonton fire, police and electricity crews were called to the area shortly after 2:30 p.m.

Maya Filipovic with Edmonton Fire Rescue said the initial call reported a light pole was on fire, and crews arrived to find a transformer had blown.

The pole brought down a power wire, which was hanging across the Whitemud, according to a spokesperson with EPCOR.

Tim le Riche said the safest way to remove the wire was to close down the busy section of road to traffic. There were concerns the wire could come down, he said.

The Whitemud was completely shut down between 149 Street and 156 Street at around 4:15 p.m. The westbound lanes were quickly reopened, while eastbound traffic remained down to one lane at around 4:30 p.m.

Drivers were being asked to avoid the area altogether.

Le Riche said power was out in the area and it would take quite some time to repair.  Shortly after 7 p.m., EPCOR said power had been restored.

EPCOR’s online power outage map suggested upwards of 1,700 customers were without power in the Lynwood, Patricia Heights and Rio Terrace neighbourhoods. EPCOR estimated power would be out until about 9 p.m.

Another tweet from EPCOR stated conditions in Edmonton on Friday were “perfect” for pole fires.

“When Edmonton is dusty and dirty after a long winter, sand and salt can cover the insulators that connect wires to the top of power poles,” reads EPCOR’s website.

“Add a bit of light rain or a snow storm and the moisture can mix with the debris to create a conductive path for electricity to travel from the wires to the pole.”

More to come…