BOWDEN – Local residents, many alarmed by loud bangs late in the evening on Aug. 5, were suddenly left without power when a lightning arrester on top of a transformer blew up during a passing storm.
The power outage throughout town occurred at about 10:30 p.m., impacting most local residents until about midnight.
However, five buildings, including the Town of Bowden administration office, were still without power Tuesday morning.
A FortisAlberta construction crew from Olds arrived the same morning to repair a trio of transformers in an alley behind town hall.
“What was done here is a lightning arrester that was on top of the transformer blew up,” said Tyler Hickey, FortisAlberta construction crew lead from Olds who was in Bowden with other crew members on Aug. 6 to fix the transformer.
“It (lightning arrester) is designed to keep the transformers safe in a lightning event. What it's supposed to do is take the brunt of the lightning strike,” said Hickey. “It was probably a lightning strike somewhere in the area. It doesn't necessarily have to hit the line.
“It wound up blowing that arrester, and then our guys were able to isolate the problem and get the rest of the town back on relatively quickly last night.”
Arno Glover, newly appointed chief administrative officer for the Town of Bowden, said he received a phone call at about 11 p.m. on Aug. 5 of the power outage.
“Our water distribution plant was also affected, obviously,” said Glover, adding that due to the central location of the power outage everything inside town hall was impacted. “We've got no power whatsoever. We've got no computers, no phones, no lights, no fridge, nothing.”
He added the local fire department was called immediately after the power outage after citizens heard loud bangs from the lightning strike.
“When these transformers blow they make a huge bang,” added Glover. “People panic when they hear these explosions. They don't know what the explosion is.
“It's literally a huge fuse that sits on top of the transformer that is blowing, and that really gets people scared.”
Full transformer repairs were expected to be completed by noon with all power restored to the five remaining impacted buildings.
