Power restored, repairs underway after Polo Park “emergency situation”

Power was restored and businesses re-opened Friday after a gas leak in the Polo Park area forced evacuations and a mass power outage.

Businesses between Milt Stegall Drive and Strathcona Street, along with buildings between Ellice Avenue and Maroons Road, including CF Polo Park shopping centre, were evacuated Thursday afternoon.

Homes and businesses in the wider area were also without power well into the evening after emergency crews shut down the Hydro substation on St. Matthews Avenue near Empress Street for safety reasons.

Hydro spokesperson Bruce Owen said public safety was the first priority.

“It was an emergency situation, no doubt about it. The gas had collected in concentrations that were at a dangerous level and any source of ignition, no matter how small, could have turned the situation far worse”.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It was an emergency situation, no doubt about it. The gas had collected in concentrations that were at a dangerous level and any source of ignition, no matter how small, could have turned the situation far worse".

Owen said the exact location of the leak was still under investigation, adding the colder than usual weather and frozen ground made the search more difficult.

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The leaking gas had migrated underground and pooled at the intersection of St. Matthews Avenue and Empress Street.

“When we drilled into the pavement last night it started bubbling up escaping from the ground and at one point like a mini-geyser. That’s where it had collected, whether that was the source of the leak, we’re still trying to pinpoint that,” Owen said.

Owen added that crews were initially looking at frost heave being the cause of a break in the line.

The intersection is expected to remain closed through the day Friday, possibly into Saturday.

St. Matthews between St. James and Strathcona and Empress between Ellice and Maroons remained closed Friday morning.

‘High safety risk’

Hydro crews were first alerted to the problem around 3 p.m.  Upon finding a high reading for natural gas at the busy intersection, the decision was made to evacuate the area “due to a high safety risk”.

Traffic in all directions was blocked off some time after 4 p.m. Police later extended the evacuation west to St. James Street.

Businesses and traffic were affected by the power outage from St. Matthews up to Portage Avenue as well as some neighbourhoods off Route 90 south of the Assiniboine River.

Owen said that at the peak of the outage, roughly 20,000 people were without power.

“Our biggest concern was a substation in the area. Due to strong winds, natural gas was making its way to the substation. We had to de-energize the substation down as it could provide ignition and cause a severe explosion,” Owen said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Our biggest concern was a substation in the area. Due to strong winds, natural gas was making its way to the substation. We had to de-energize the substation down as it could provide ignition and cause a severe explosion," Owen said.

RELATED: Manitoba Hydro still investigating gas leak at Grassie and Molson 

The utility opened up the pavement at Empress and St. Matthews to vent the natural gas.

PHOTOS: Polo Park area was empty due to the natural gas leak and related power outage