Local

Power restored in Dallas following half-day outage

DALLAS, N.C. — An entire town lost power on one of the hottest days of the year, but saw it restored by 2 p.m. on Saturday.

The town of Dallas assisted by the American Red Cross opened a cooling station at 1 p.m. Saturday during a power outage that lasted close to 15 hours, officials said.

Temperatures are expected to reach into the mid-90s on Saturday.

Officials said the cooling station was closed an hour later because no one in the town chose to use it.

A transformer failure happened just before 11 p.m. Friday in Dallas, town officials said.

[LINK: Town of Dallas]

The transformer blew at the electrical substation on South Rhyne Street and affected 3,600 customers, which officials say encapsulates the entire town.

Electric crews replaced the transformer and are in the process of restoring power, which will be done in phases beginning at 1 p.m.

Officials had power fully restored by 2 p.m.

Traffic lights at intersections in Dallas were not working during much of the outage.

[5 hacks to keep your smartphone charged during a power outage]

Motorists should treat each intersection as a four-way stop when a trafic signal is not operational.

Motorists should come to a full stop and proceed through the intersection only when it is safe to do so.