Edmonton police said Wednesday morning that a helium balloon had hit some power lines north of downtown, knocking out power to several blocks.
Police said the areas between 103 Street and 119 Street, between 105 Avenue and 111 Avenue were affected by a power outage.
EPS said a helium balloon hit power lines in the area and caused the outage.
Jerry Voss told CTV News he saw the whole thing.
“A balloon, a foil balloon, it came into the sky and it blew down into the powerlines and I said ‘No! No!’” Voss said.
The balloon caused problems when it became wrapped around two lines at the same time.
“Then bang it went all the way down this way, and blew the transformer and blew the lines right off,” Voss said.
Late Wednesday morning, police officers were out directing traffic at intersections to help with traffic flow.
Officials said it’s expected to take several hours to fix, and drivers have been asked to avoid the area.
EPCOR said the power outage impacted 4,000 customers, and confirmed it was caused by the balloon.
Some area businesses were forced to close for the day, including at a local tattoo shop – Presley Shiu had been planning on marking his 18th birthday Wednesday with a tattoo.
“It took me three hours of planning, two hours of another design thought, like, I was so hyped,” Shiu said. “And a balloon happened.”
By early Wednesday afternoon, power had been restored to much of the area, with the exception of customers in the immediate area of the downed line.
Officials said power was fully restored just before 3 p.m.
With files from Nicole Weisberg