A car hit a utility pole in downtown Denver this afternoon and knocked out power to about 2,000 customers for 50 minutes, Xcel spokesman Mark Stutz said.
The collision happened at 5:05 p.m. at Park Avenue West and Welton Street, downing power lines near Lawson Park.
Xcel rerouted transmissions and restored power to all but 150 people by 5:55 p.m., Stutz said. The rest were expected to be restored soon after.
Witnesses said they heard an explosion and saw a flash.
Stutz said he wasn’t sure of the outages perimeter.
Power, however, was lost at the Denver Rescue Mission about eight blocks northwest, spokeswoman Alexxa Gagner said. Only a few emergency lights went on and people were starting to come into the shelter about the same time power went off.
That caused some nervousness as the shelter prepared for a below-freezing night with heavy snow.
About 300 people stay at the rescue mission each night.
