Newsroom

TORONTO, July 18, 2011 /CNW/ - Severe thunderstorms Sunday night and Monday morning downed trees and power lines, causing power outages to more than 35,000 Hydro One customers in central and eastern Ontario. At the peak of the storm, 60,000 Hydro One customers were without power.

Some of the major areas affected are listed below:

"We have deployed all available crews to focus on the restoration effort," said Myles D'Arcey, Senior Vice President, Customer Operations. "We anticipate that power will be restored to the majority of customers today, but repairing all of the damage and restoring power to all customers could take several days."

Hydro One crews continue to assess damage and work as quickly and safely as possible to restore power. The number of customers without power could increase as more thunderstorms are forecast for this afternoon. Hydro One will provide updates on restoration times once the extent of the storm damage has been determined.

Following a major storm, initial estimated times of restoration (ETR) can change as Hydro One crews complete their assessments and the full extent of the storm damage becomes known. For the most up-to-date information, customers should visit www.HydroOne.com or call the Power Outage and Emergency Line at 1-800-434-1235.

Important Safety Information
Hydro One strongly urges people to take extra precaution near fallen power lines. Even if a fallen wire seems dead, it can be dangerous. People are urged to report to Hydro One the location of the fallen wires as soon as possible. Touching a vehicle that is in contact with a power line can be fatal.

Hydro One delivers electricity safely, reliably and responsibly to homes and businesses across the province of Ontario and owns and operates Ontario's 29,000 km high-voltage transmission network that delivers electricity to large industrial customers and municipal utilities, and a 123,000 km low-voltage distribution system that serves about 1.3 million end-use customers and smaller municipal utilities in the province. Hydro One is wholly owned by the Province of Ontario.