Power restored in South County

CHARLESTOWN, R.I. (WPRI) - An explosion at an electrical substation knocked out power to an estimated 20,000 Rhode Island utility customers on Monday.

It happened just after 9 a.m. Monday at the Wood River Junction substation. The outages occurred in Westerly, Hopkinton and Charlestown.

"I heard a loud, loud explosion and the ground was kind of vibrating" said neighbor Michael Mandeville.

Mandeville said he saw flames shooting from the substation 20 feet into the air. He immediately called 911.

"I've never seen anything like it. The whole place was just blue and glowing with sparks everywhere."

The substation was unmanned at the time of the explosion and no one was injured.

Crews were able to alleviate the problem and restore electricity to all of its customers by early afternoon.

• WPRI.com has your real-time power outage information here .

The cause of the explosion is still under investigation.