Newsroom
TORONTO, January 10, 2020 - Hydro One is gearing up to respond to a severe weather system that is expected to bring significant amounts of rain, freezing rain and wet snow along with high winds across regions of Ontario resulting in outages and localized flooding.
The first storm of the year is expected to affect the Greater Toronto Area north through to the Bruce Peninsula, areas east and north of the shores of Lake Ontario to the Ottawa Valley along with the Nickel Belt and the region east of Lake Superior. These areas could see outages from ice accumulation on power lines or other electrical equipment along with nearby tree limbs.
"We have been tracking this weather system and are getting crews and equipment ready in the areas anticipated to be hardest hit," said Lyla Garzouzi, Vice President of Distribution, Hydro One. "We encourage everyone in these areas to be prepared with an emergency kit and remind them that they can stay up-to-date with our outage map, mobile app or text and email alerts."
Using Hydro One's outage prediction tool, the company is getting crews in position to assess damage in order to restore power as quickly and safely as possible. An estimated time of restoration will be determined for each outage once damage has been assessed. Outage tools will be up-dated every 10 minutes as information comes in from crews on-the-ground.
Emergency preparedness kit
Be prepared for potential extended outages with an emergency kit. Here’s what to include:
- Water and food that won't spoil for all family members, including pets
- A manual can opener
- Windup or battery-powered flashlight and radio
- Batteries and extended battery chargers
- Cash
- First aid kit and medical items
- Blankets
- Emergency numbers including Hydro One's power outage hotline, 1-800-434-1235
- Fully charged cell-phone or have at least one corded phone at home; a cordless phone will not work in a power outage
Keep your emergency kit in a backpack and make sure everyone in your home knows where to find it. If flooding starts to occur at home, Hydro One encourages customers to be safe and call 1-800-434-1235 to have power disconnected.
Stay safe during a power outage
If the power system in your area is affected by bad weather, be sure to stay clear of any fallen power lines. If you spot a fallen line, keep at least 10 metres back, even if it does not appear to be live. Report it to the police and call Hydro One at 1-800-434-1235.
Tracking power outages
For outage information and updates, visit Hydro One's outage map or download the free mobile app. Customers can also sign up in advance for text or email notifications. These free tools allow customers to check the status of power outages anywhere in Hydro One's service area and receive helpful tips and news. Sign up at www.hydroone.com/outages.
About Hydro One Inc.:
Hydro One Inc. is a fully owned subsidiary of Hydro One Limited, Ontario's largest electricity transmission and distribution provider with almost 1.4 million valued customers, over $25.6 billion in assets and 2018 annual revenues of over $6.1 billion. Our team of approximately 8,600 skilled and dedicated employees proudly build and maintain a safe and reliable electricity system which is essential to supporting strong and successful communities. In 2018, Hydro One invested almost $1.6 billion in its 30,000 circuit kilometres of high-voltage transmission and 123,000 circuit kilometres of primary distribution networks and injected approximately $1.3 billion into the economy by buying goods and services in Ontario. We are committed to the communities where we live and work through community investment, sustainability and diversity initiatives. We are designated as a Sustainable Electricity Company by the Canadian Electricity Association. Hydro One Limited's common shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: H).
