Explosion at electric substation causes thousands to lose power in Westerville

WESTERVILLE, Ohio (WCMH) – Two separate incidents resulted in approximately 7,500 customers to be without power in Westerville early Tuesday morning.

According to Westerville police, a transformer owned by Westerville Electric on the 700 block of McCorkle Boulevard, exploded around 2:40 a.m. The outage affected approximately 4,200 customers.

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Meanwhile, a pole fire in the area of Park and Worthington Galena roads resulted in approximately 3,300 AEP Ohio customers losing service.

AEP said all affected customers had their power restored by about 10:30 a.m. Westerville Electric said most of its customers had their service restored by late Tuesday afternoon.

Smoke was seen from the area of the substation and several residents reported via social media hearing a very loud boom and lights flashing as if it were continuous lightning.

A Westerville resident said that at the time of the explosion, lights that had been turned off for the night flickered on before bulbs began to burst in her home. She also smelled smoke in the home before turning the main power breaker off.

“As soon as I peaked through my blinds, I noticed an area by my residence was engulfed in flames and smoke,” Westerville resident Anisa Liban said. “So I was genuinely just stunned and terrified.”

Three intersections on Maxtown Road were closed, including those at McCorkle Boulevard, Hilmar Drive and North Spring Road while crews continued to investigate.

Westerville Electric asks anyone with continued problems to call 614-901-6700 and select option 3.

No injuries were reported, according to Westerville police.

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