Heat wave hits Alberta amid blackouts

A heat wave sweeping southern Alberta led to rolling power blackouts and calls for consumers to use less electricity, officials said Tuesday. The normally temperate central Canadian province has about 35 coal and natural gas power generating facilities, but Monday, six of them failed amid high demand and overheating, the Globe and Mail reported. In Edmonton, the mercury was in the mid-80s, but with humidity factored in, it felt hotter than 100 degrees, the Edmonton Sun reported. There was no cooling predicted for several days, forecasters said. The power failures created traffic problems in Calgary and other cities like Edmonton were plagued by water main breaks, the Sun reported. The Alberta Electric System Operator, which coordinates the provincial power grid, issued a statement asking users to minimize power usage as much as possible during the heat wave to avoid further rolling blackouts. Officials said hospitals, fire stations, police and other emergency facilities wouldn't be affected by outages, the Sun said.