UPDATE: Outage Snarls Woodward Commute; Hundreds in Huntington Woods Lose Power

An outage late Monday afternoon knocked out traffic signals along Woodward Avenue, snarling the rush hour commute and leaving some residents in Huntington Woods and Royal Oak without power.

Royal Oak Police said the outage was caused by a transformer problem.

There was an explosion at approximately 5 p.m. behind the at the corner of Woodward and Lincoln in Royal Oak, Lt. Billy Spencer confirmed. The explosion sparked an outage that affected traffic signals along Woodward from Lincoln north to 13 Mile Road – affecting motorists in Huntington Woods, Royal Oak and Berkley – he said.

Officers from Huntington Woods, as well as the and s responded to direct traffic.

As of 7 p.m., the lights were back on at 13 Mile, 12 Mile and 11 Mile, and traffic was moving pretty well, Spencer said. As of 8 p.m., the light at Lincoln appeared to be working as well.

According to DTE's outage map Monday evening, 588 customers were without power in Huntington Woods, as were 59 in Royal Oak. The utility company did not return a call for comment, but had a crew on the scene working to make repairs into the night.

By Tuesday morning, DTE's outage map showed power had been restored to the customers in Huntington Woods, but not those in Royal Oak.

Commuter Kate Rotan of Rochester was on her way home from work in Southfield when she found herself stuck in the bumper-to-bumer traffic on northbound Woodward Avenue after turning off the 10 Mile service drive from I-696.

"People were having trouble making U-turns because they couldn't get through the solid traffic. It was dangerous,"  Rotan said.

"I did not enjoy driving in it on Monday of Fourth of July week," she said.

Royal Oak Patch Editor Judy Davids contributed to this article.