Newsroom

TORONTO, July 9, 2013 /CNW/ - Hydro One has made significant progress throughout the night. Hydro One crews worked overnight to restore power to approximately 90 per cent of customers that were impacted by power interruptions caused by flooding at its Richview and Manby Transmission Stations (TS).  At its peak approximately 400 - 500,000 customers in the GTA were affected by the Hydro One outage.

Working through the night, Hydro One reconfigured its GTA electricity system to restore power to as many people as possible. For this reason, the system is not yet stabilized and the potential for additional outages exists. The Company is asking that people take steps today to conserve electricity and consider powering down heavy equipment such as air conditioners in order to reduce strain on the local system.

"Hydro One appreciates customers' patience as we work to restore power during this challenging time," said Carmine Marcello, President and CEO, Hydro One. "Our crews are giving this issue the highest priority as we work to safely restore power to remaining customers."

Crews were dispatched to respond to flooding last night and were required to make the stations safe before proceeding with restoration work.  At the Richview Transmission Station, all water has been removed from the building and repairs have begun on any equipment that was impacted by flooding. At the Manby Transmission Station, Hydro One crews are still working to remove significant volumes of water from the facility in order to start needed repairs.

Emergency crews will continue to work until all power has been restored, but at this time there is no estimated time of restoration for the remaining customers.

With today's temperatures expected to elevate up to 36 degrees with the humidex, a lot of strain will be placed on the electrical grid and could reverse progress already made to restore power.

Hydro One will continue to provide updates as new information becomes available.

Current Toronto area impact is:

Etobicoke area:
Rexdale Blvd South to Bywood Dr, Renforth Dr. east to Scarlett Rd.

York Area:
Oak St. south to Wright Ave., Weston Rd. east to Pine St.

Etobicoke Area:
Dundas St. south to Valermo Dr., The west Mall east to Stephen Dr.

Toronto Area:
Ormskirk ave. south to Queensway, South Kingsway east to Windermere Ave.

Hydro One delivers electricity safely, reliably and responsibly to home and businesses across the province of Ontario and owns and operates Ontario's 29,000 kilometre high-voltage transmission network that delivers electricity to large industrial customers and municipal utilities, and a 121,000 kilometre low-voltage distribution system that serves about 1.4 million end-use customers and smaller municipal utilities in the province. Hydro One is wholly owned by the Province of Ontario.

SOURCE: Hydro One Inc.