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Short power outage in north Red Deer

A power outage in north Red Deer about 7:15 a.m. snarled traffic and left a large area without power for almost 10 minutes Friday.

A power outage in north Red Deer about 7:15 a.m. snarled traffic and left a large area without power for almost 10 minutes Friday.

Crews were working on a transformer near the Olymel plant in Riverside Industrial Park when something went wrong. As a breaker was closed to energize a second transformer a protection system kicked in and shut down the entire substation, said Ligong Gan, manager of the city’s Electric Light and Power Department.

The outage affected Edgar and Riverside Industrial Parks, Kentwood and Johnstone Park. Traffic lights in the north end of the city were also knocked out and went into flashing mode.

Power was back on in eight minutes and crews were dispatched to reset traffic lights, which were all restored after about 30 minutes, said Gan.

The problem has been isolated and engineers have been dispatched to the substation to investigate.

Gan said there is enough capacity in the system to keep the lights on without the second transformer and he is not anticipating any further problems.

Red Deer Emergency Services had no reports of accidents during the brief blackout.