Electricity has been restored to downtown Austin after two underground explosions cut the power to thousands on Sunday evening.
Austin Energy reports almost 6,000 customers from Fifth Street to 11th and Congress east to Interstate 35 were without electricity after an electrical fire.
Austin firefighters said a crew was taking core samples downtown when they drilled through the primary power line. That caused the secondary lines to overheat, causing two explosions.
The explosions caused fire to shoot out of a manhole 20 - 30 feet in the air. A group of sightseers say they were at the State Capitol when they heard the explosion.
"We kinda looked around and right down here at the end of this alley a manhole cover had blown off and there was smoke coming out of it. One of my other guys, Vince, actually saw a fire coming out of that one. So we looked around and another explosion just took off. It was really enormous. A lot bigger," witness Steve Wagner said.
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Power outage
News 8 Austin's Reagan Hackleman reports from downtown Austin.
 
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Father Bud Roland of nearby St. Mary Cathedral said the power went out during Mass.
"We just noticed the lights suddenly began to dim about half of the voltage we normally get. And then gradually they just went out. And it was pretty clear by the end of Mass we had no electricity, no power whatsoever," he said.
No one was injured in the explosion.
Austin Energy said it didn't know anyone was digging in the area when the lines were cut.
