Police responded to an emergency phone call Wednesday night after a transformer blew in downtown Gainesville, leaving more than 400 Gainesville Regional Utilities customers without power.
The explosion occurred at about 9:40 p.m. at the corner of Northwest First Avenue and Northwest Second Street near the Wells Fargo parking garage.
The outage affected four blocks south and three blocks west of the intersection, said Gainesville Fire Rescue Lt. Willie Saulsberry.
Gainesville Regional Utilities was called to the scene immediately, Saulsberry said.
Power was out for almost an hour before the company was able to restore electricity to the affected areas.
Gainesville resident Charles Rye said he saw the explosion and called 911.
“I was just parking my car, and then I saw the street explode,” said Rye, who was on his way to trivia night at a local restaurant with his friends.
A version of this story ran on page 1 on 1/16/2014 under the headline "Transformer blows, 400+ lose power"
