Police and fire services are responding to reports of an “explosion” in Dundee’s Greenmarket area.
People in the area reported hearing a loud explosion at around 8.30am and emergency services were quick to reach the scene.
Attention appeared to be focused on a drain cover by the side of the road.
He told The Courier in the minutes after it happened: “It was a massive explosion and all the electrics have gone off – it seems to have been a fuse box or something like that.
Attention appeared to be focused on a drain cover by the side of the road.
He told The Courier in the minutes after it happened: “It was a massive explosion and all the electrics have gone off – it seems to have been a fuse box or something like that.
“The fire brigade were here really quickly and the police put a cordon up. There must be four or five police and fire vehicles here already.
“It’s like something underground exploded but it was really loud – like a bomb exploded.”
A fire crew could be seen running a hose underground as soon as they arrived on site.
The witness said: “I was about 100 metres away when it happened and it was just really loud, like a bomb going off.”
A spokesperson for SSEN said:“At around 8.25am this morning we received reports of an underground cable fault on our high voltage electricity network which initially affected 39 customers in Dundee city centre.
“Our engineers quickly attended the site to carry out initial investigations and to start restoring supplies to those customers affected. As of 10.30am we have safely restored power to the majority of customers affected, with just 6 customers currently remaining off supply.
“We expect all supplies to be restored by midday today.
“We would like to apologise to all customers affected by the fault and thank them for their patience as our engineers work hard to restore power as quickly and safely as possible.”
A police spokesman said it was an electrical explosion and the emergency services are liaising with power operator SSE.
Officers advised people to avoid the area while energy supplier SSE handles the incident.
The police spokesman said: “SSE are currently dealing with this, however there may be considerable disruption in the area for some time while the problem is investigated and dealt with.
“Please try and stay away from the area if you can. Thank-you for your patience.”
Scottish Enterprise ‘s offices at Enterprise House and Caledonian House are both without power.
Scottish Enterprise staff have been told not to come into work.
Dundee train station is also without power, which is preventing it from issuing tickets to any passengers.
One local worker who is employed at a dentists overlooking the site said: “We tried to get parked in our space on Greenmarket, behind Grouchos as normal at around 8.30am.
“The road was taped off by police and fire fighters and we were diverted away.
“No one could tell us what was going on at all, although plenty rumours have been flying about from staff and nearby shop workers.
“We’ve ended up having to park and pay using the Queens hotel car park, which is annoying as we already pay for parking in our spot, which doesn’t seem to have any police in it now.”
Cars passing through traffic signals close to the new train station concourse were forced to make judgement calls after the power outage turned off the lights.