Downtown Winnipeg office buildings lose power after flooding, Manitoba Hydro says
A handful of buildings in downtown Winnipeg went dark Wednesday morning after a suspected water main break near a transformer knocked out power in the area.
Six locations near Portage Avenue and Memorial Street were without power after the break caused flooding in the parkade of the Medical Arts Building on Edmonton Street, said Bruce Owen, a spokesperson for Manitoba Hydro.
The bottom level of the parkade was filled with roughly four feet of water, which trippedĀ a transformer vault in the structure, Owen said.
The floodingĀ knockedĀ out power at three office buildings, two parkades and the University of Winnipeg's Wesley Hall, as well as some traffic lights, he said.
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/mboutage?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#mboutage</a> The vault holding all the electrical equipment in a nearby parkade is currently under 4ft of water. <br><br>š¦ + ā”ļø = šš¼ <a href="https://t.co/d1ho8AnBGc">pic.twitter.com/d1ho8AnBGc</a>
—@manitobahydroThe outage was expected to last anotherĀ three or four hours, Owen said shortly before 9 a.m. Before power can be restored, crews mustĀ pump out water so they can access the equipment.
"Water and electricity [don't] mix, so we're trying to keep everybody as safe as possible as we do this work," Owen said.Ā "We appreciate our customers' patience as we get at this."