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Power outages could stretch into Monday for remote areas of GTA: Hydro One

· Toronto Sun

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Service providers are continuing to respond to dozens of scattered power outages from Toronto to cottage country after high winds and heavy rain knocked down trees and disrupted powerlines on Saturday.

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Toronto Hydro said it had dealt with 145 “power events” alone since Saturday, which were mostly due to downed lines and trees striking wires after about 50 mm of rain was reported in the city centre, according to Environment Canada.

That was on top of the more than 670 emergency incidents that Toronto Fire had responded to as well over the last 24 hours, about 36% more calls than they normally receive. They saw a 300% or more surge in both HAZMAT/CBRNE calls and water-related emergencies.

“We know it’s not easy being without power and thank everyone for their continued patience as our crews work to safely restore power to all affected customers after yesterday’s challenging weather conditions,” Hydro Toronto said late Saturday morning in an update on social media.

Dozens of outages reported north of GTA

By Sunday evening, Hydro Toronto’s outage map showed about a dozen scattered outages in its service area spanning from south Etobicoke to northwest Scarborough, but officials said they had already “assessed and restored” a majority of the outages while also responding to prioritized calls from emergency services.

Only a few scattered disruptions were reported to be left elsewhere in the southern parts of the GTA from Oshawa to Hamilton, according to service provider outage maps.

Hydro One, meanwhile, was dealing with more than 50 scattered outages from the northern edge of the GTA to Barrie, most of which was contained in an area that stretched east from Aurora and Newmarket to Uxbridge.

About 50 more outages were reported in cottage country as well.

“Crews continue restoring power after strong winds and heavy rain across south and central Ontario,” they said in an update on Sunday evening. “Damage includes downed lines from fallen trees.”

They added that some customers, “especially in hard-hit or remote areas” like Newmarket, Bracebridge and Parry Sound, may not have service restored by nighttime.

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Flood status upgraded

In addition to the power outages, the heavy rain threat from Saturday’s storm led to the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority to upgrade its flood status to yellow, which warned that “flooding and water pooling may occur in flood plains and low-lying areas that do not drain well.”

Multiple events were also cancelled or postponed, including Saturday night’s Bruno Mars concert at Rogers Stadium and Sunday’s Fallen Firefighter Ceremony on the waterfront.

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