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Flash of Light

Friday, 31 January 2014 10:55

Woodstock Hydro explains the flash of light seen over the city around 9pm

If you saw the sky light up over Woodstock last night, you weren't alone. 

Hundreds reported seeing a flash of blue green light strongest in the Vincent and Riddell Street area of the City.

Woodstock Hydro Manager of Operations Jay Heaman says it happened around nine last night. 

"We had two primary feeder conductors that slapped together briefly. There was a bit of a squall come up there just after nine o'clock, so it took one feeder out and it locked the second feeder out."

"That's happened in the past before. There is an incredible amount of energy during a fault like that and it's brief but when you have conditions where there's snow or a lot of moisture in the air, then that flash just tends to travel like lightening across skies."

"There's a phenomenon called 'galloping lines' there are common in the industry and if you get just the right conditions, power lines sometimes can start to gallop in wind and they'll make contact. We are doing some rebuild in that area so the lines are constructed a little bit differently just for a short period but there was never any threat to public safety."

Heaman says there was no major damage to equipment. 

He says public feedback on social media helped to narrow down the origin of the fault and helped to restore power faster.

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