Gord Perks City Councillor, Ward 4, Parkdale-High Park

If you spot a downed wire, please stay back (at least 10 feet) and report it to Toronto Hydro’s operations centre at 416-542-8000.

For more information about household items to have on hand during a lengthy outage, please visit torontohydro.com/poweroutage

We continue to operate under the level III emergency. As of 6:30 a.m., there are currently an estimated 227,560 customers without power across the city. Crews have restored 72,500 customers (300,000 customers without power at peak).The damage caused by fallen trees and limbs continues to cause problems. We are dealing with multiple tree limbs on each feeder causing significant delays. We’re tracking a cold front moving in from the west. Winds will create further damage bringing tree limbs down.

The estimated time of restoration has been revised to Friday. This ETOR may be revised after potential damage caused by wind. With the addition of the City of Toronto’s 40 forestry crews this morning, restoration efforts should begin to move faster.

Restoration Difficulties for Crews:

– Ground conditions are icy, making footing and driving difficult and making feeder patrol very slow.
– Difficult entry into backyards.
– Crews trying to climb icy poles.
– Driving is slow due to traffic lights outs and icy road conditions.
– Restoration in the dark takes much longer – crews can’t see in the dark where limbs are resting on lines.
– Must energize the lines and look for a spark to find tree branches on lines (reason why some customers’ lights are flickering)
– Multiple limbs on wires taking a lot of time to find and clear.

 

We continue to have priority customers operating without permanent power (hospitals, transit, water services) and are doing our best to restore them and refueling generators as needed. All have temporary power.

Here’s what we’ve been doing:
-We have been focused on responding to wires down calls and making areas safe
-We have had every available crew on shift. (crews rostered on 12 hour shifts)
-We have called in contractor crews to assist.
-City Forestry crews have lent resources to assist in clearing this morning.
-We have asked all southern Ontario utilities for assistance with restoration. They need to restore their territories first then assess their crew availability. We are hopeful they will report back this morning.
-We will determine this morning how we will engage our US partners.

Here’s what we have accomplished so far:
– Restored 72,500 customers
– Police Fire Ambulance – 138 calls at start, now 48 remaining.
· We have attnded and made safe 89 PFA calls.
– We have restored some critical loads:
· Richview pumping station
· Humber River Regional Hospital
· Toronto East General
· Horgan water treatment plant
· Yorkdale Mall and Subway station
– TTC – first crews on shift were dispatched to Warden Station and Sheppard Station
– Scarborough line – the issues are related to ice and debris on tracks, not Toronto Hydro.
– Sunnybrook – 2 supplies to Sunnybrook are both compromised in the valley. ETOR: 5 p.m.
– We have been refueling with diesel to City’s generators as well as to nursing homes and other critical loads.
– We have no safety incidents reported from our crews and we ask for their continued diligence on work practices.

If you spot a downed wire, please stay back (at least 10 feet) and report it to Toronto Hydro’s operations centre at 416-542-8000.

For more information about household items to have on hand during a lengthy outage, please visit torontohydro.com/poweroutage

We continue to operate under the level III emergency. As of 6:30 a.m., there are currently an estimated 227,560 customers without power across the city. Crews have restored 72,500 customers (300,000 customers without power at peak).The damage caused by fallen trees and limbs continues to cause problems. We are dealing with multiple tree limbs on each feeder causing significant delays. We’re tracking a cold front moving in from the west. Winds will create further damage bringing tree limbs down.

The estimated time of restoration has been revised to Friday. This ETOR may be revised after potential damage caused by wind. With the addition of the City of Toronto’s 40 forestry crews this morning, restoration efforts should begin to move faster.

Restoration Difficulties for Crews:

– Ground conditions are icy, making footing and driving difficult and making feeder patrol very slow.
– Difficult entry into backyards.
– Crews trying to climb icy poles.
– Driving is slow due to traffic lights outs and icy road conditions.
– Restoration in the dark takes much longer – crews can’t see in the dark where limbs are resting on lines.
– Must energize the lines and look for a spark to find tree branches on lines (reason why some customers’ lights are flickering)
– Multiple limbs on wires taking a lot of time to find and clear.

 

We continue to have priority customers operating without permanent power (hospitals, transit, water services) and are doing our best to restore them and refueling generators as needed. All have temporary power.

Here’s what we’ve been doing:
-We have been focused on responding to wires down calls and making areas safe
-We have had every available crew on shift. (crews rostered on 12 hour shifts)
-We have called in contractor crews to assist.
-City Forestry crews have lent resources to assist in clearing this morning.
-We have asked all southern Ontario utilities for assistance with restoration. They need to restore their territories first then assess their crew availability. We are hopeful they will report back this morning.
-We will determine this morning how we will engage our US partners.

Here’s what we have accomplished so far:
– Restored 72,500 customers
– Police Fire Ambulance – 138 calls at start, now 48 remaining.
· We have attnded and made safe 89 PFA calls.
– We have restored some critical loads:
· Richview pumping station
· Humber River Regional Hospital
· Toronto East General
· Horgan water treatment plant
· Yorkdale Mall and Subway station
– TTC – first crews on shift were dispatched to Warden Station and Sheppard Station
– Scarborough line – the issues are related to ice and debris on tracks, not Toronto Hydro.
– Sunnybrook – 2 supplies to Sunnybrook are both compromised in the valley. ETOR: 5 p.m.
– We have been refueling with diesel to City’s generators as well as to nursing homes and other critical loads.
– We have no safety incidents reported from our crews and we ask for their continued diligence on work practices.