Do you still treat flashing yellow/red traffic lights as four way stop?

[Dave J]

I have a rather dumb question but here it goes. I have always been taught that a flashing yellow means proceed with caution and flashing red means stop. The power was out and a lot of the traffic lights were out and I know that you are supposed to treat them as a four way stop. I approached another intersection with traffic light that had power but was flashing yellow for my street and red for the cross street. I treated the flashing yellow as an indication that I can proceed but another motorist considered the flashing yellow/red to be a malfunctioning traffic light and treated it as a four way stop and got mad as he pulled out and I went through the light without stopping. In our area, traffic lights will sometimes flash red in all directions or yellow in one direction and red in the other (like this light) for a few minutes after power is restored to the light. Am I in the wrong? This wouldn't be considered a malfunctioning light in my opinion and since I had flashing yellow lights, I felt I could proceed. Who is right in this situation? It seems stupid to treat it as a four way stop unless the light flashes red in all directions when power is restored.