Power outages across Alberta left thousands of people in Calgary without power on Sunday, and some outages continued into Monday morning.
The power outages that left nearly 18,000 people without power for approximately 17 minutes after 9 p.m. on Sunday, while about 1,100 homes and businesses in the Varsity and Montgomery area were without power into Monday morning.
ENMAX spokesperson Gina Sutherland told CBC News that the outages were caused by downed lines between Alberta and B.C. and Alberta and Montana.
(1/2) We’ve safely restored power to Silver Springs, Royal Oak, Hounsfield Heights/Briar Hill, West Hillhurst, Rocky Ridge, Upper Mount Royal, Hillhurst, Altadore, South Calgary, Arbour Lake, Varsity, Dalhousie, Bankview and Richmond. Thanks for hanging in there …
—@ENMAXpower
“It was caused by an interruption to an interprovincial tie line,” Sutherland said.
Sutherland said ENMAX doesn’t know what tripped the line but the Alberta Energy Systems Operator (AESO) directed the company to shed some load.
“The AESO directed ENMAX to have a brief outage,” Sutherland said.
Drivers are urged to use caution as some traffic lights may still be affected.