If you live near the border of Wilmot and Waterloo, you may have noticed some weird flashes of light coming from the hydro lines on Saturday night.
One resident of the area was able to catch video of the weird occurrence and posted it on Reddit.
blue flashes southwest of vista hills last night
byu/william384 inwaterloo
A spokesperson for Kitchener-Wilmot Hydro says the occurrence is known as “Galloping lines.”
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We suspect that a combination of ice build-up and windy weather caused the high-voltage power lines in the area to “gallop” or bounce around, and a couple of the lines made contact or got close enough together to cause the electricity to arc from one line to the other, which are the blue flashes you can see in the video,” Kelly McMath explained.
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She said crews were dispatched to investigate at around 8:30 p.m. on Saturday night and found no damage.
“Galloping lines usually only occur in wintry conditions, when ice builds up on power lines and high winds cause them to bounce around,” McMath said. “When weather conditions include freezing rain and high winds, we are alert to the possibility they could happen. Outside of that, they are uncommon.”
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