According to Hydro One, a crane that damaged some high-voltage lines in the city’s Port Lands may be to blame for the extensive power outage that has left a large portion of downtown Toronto in the dark.
The construction equipment may have came into touch with the wires while being hauled through the Ship Channel by a barge on Thursday morning, according to reports, according to spokeswoman Tiziana Baccega Rosa.
Rosa stated that employees are attempting to restore electricity “as fast and securely as possible.”
She stated that they are making every effort to remotely reroute electricity to the impacted locations, but she was unable to give a specific timeframe for when service would be fully restored.
Toronto Fire Service District Chief Stephan Powell told CP24 that at this point the public is being advised to steer clear of the area of Bouchette and Commissioners streets.
“The (downed) wires are still live to the best of our knowledge and there is still an electrocution hazard,” he said, adding fire vehicles are stationed at both ends of the roadway to keep people away.
He also said firefighters are monitoring in case any of the lines spark and catch fire.
There are no reports of injuries at this point, Powell noted, adding crews have rescued several people trapped in elevators this afternoon due to the outage.
Toronto Hydro previously said more than 10,000 customers were in the dark at one point.
Source_ cp24.com
