Underground transformer explodes in Visalia, damaging a car and cutting power

What happened

At around 10 am on Friday 8 October 2021, an underground transformer exploded near Aspen and Hillsdale in Visalia, California, United States, and knocked out power in the surrounding area. Visalia fire officials investigated. No one was injured, and fire officials said the only damage was to a nearby vehicle. The cause was not immediately clear. Investigators said it may have been due to the rain. Southern California Edison crews restored power. The report did not say how many customers lost power, how long the outage lasted, or the condition of the transformer after the explosion.

Contributing factors

The cause was not confirmed. Investigators said rain may have been a factor.

Lessons learned

1. Where weather is only a possible factor, treat it as unconfirmed until the investigation is finished, and do not assume how water reached the equipment.
2. An underground transformer failure can damage nearby vehicles even when no one is hurt, so the area around a failed unit should be checked.
3. Recording how many customers were affected and how long supply was lost makes later comparison with similar failures possible.

Source

abc30.com