A mechanical issue in Red Deer’s power grid plunged houses in parts of a few neighbourhoods in the south end into darkness on one of the coldest mornings so far this year.
Jim Jorgensen, Red Deer Electric Light and Power Department manager, said a switch issue on a main line near the Delburne highway caused the outage.
“It took out a feeder line, so one of the main ones that feed out from our big substations,” said Jorgensen.
Power was restored early Monday morning to the area as crews worked through wind chills reaching -40.
“It’s not pleasant, but they respond and the do a heck of a job getting out there,” said Jorgensen. “I talked to them this morning and they said it was fine as long as their back was to the wind.”