Flooding, power outages cause chaos in downtown core

Clean up underway after water main break A clean-up effort is underway more than eight hours after a water main break downtown. CTV Edmonton’s Nicole Weisberg reports.

A major water main break caused flooding and power to go off in the downtown core Wednesday morning.

Fire officials said they were called to a building on Capital Boulevard just after 9 a.m. and found both electrical rooms were flooded with smoke coming from them.

Capt. Russell Kocuper said crews were worried about water getting into the street-level electrical panels.

"That was our biggest concern: those things were filled with water. So when that happens, and there's still current flowing through them, there's a good chance of an explosion," he explained.

Fire crews evacuated about 30 people from an office building on 108 Street.

The incident has also caused flooding at Corona LRT station, which has been closed as of 11 a.m. UPDATE: ETS said the station was reopened by 7 p.m. Wednesday.

EPCOR determined the water from the break seeped underground, impacting electrical equipment which caused a power outage.

As of 1 p.m, it said 490 customers were initially without power, but electricity has since been restored to most of its customers.

Water has been turned off to allow crews complete repairs.

EPCOR advises motorists to avoid  the area of Jasper, 108 Street  and 109 Street.