Power restored to thousands in south Columbia

Firefighters said a part failed in a transformer box Monday, knocking out power to nearly 1,400 Columbia Water and Light customers for almost two hours.

Some businesses were forced to close down for the afternoon.

Property owner Tom Smith said he received several calls from residents this morning.

“They were concerned something was wrong with their unit,” Smith said.

Smith said when he arrived at his property to make sure things were okay, the transformer box on the corner was smoking.

“As if there was a small fire coming out of the box, coming through the cracks,” Smith said.

He said worried there would be no power for the whole day. But two hours later, Columbia Water and Light had fixed the issue and the power was back on.

The outage was concentrated along Nifong Boulevard/Grindstone Parkway east of Providence Road.

Some businesses, such as HuHot Mongolian Grill, were forced to close down for lunch, while others were able to remain open on backup power.

Health department officials suggest keeping refrigerators and freezers shut during power outages. Any food that remains at temperatures higher than 41 degrees for at least four hours should be thrown out.