Toronto power outages may extend past Christmas: CEO

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Toronto Mayor Rob Ford says the city is not declaring a state of emergency in the aftermath of Saturday’s ice storm that coated the city with ice, bringing down hydro lines and tree branches and left hundreds of thousands of households without power.

On Sunday, Ford called it “the worst storm in Toronto’s history,” but at a news conference Monday morning he said “we believe that the worst weather is over.” He also said Toronto Hydro crews have restored power to 75,000 households.

He also said it’s business at usual at city hall and that its employees are expected to report to work on Monday.

“Considering what we’ve gone through, I think our staff, every single department has done an absolutely phenomenal job,” Ford said.

On Sunday, the city opened nine community centres where people could get food and warmth. Click here for a list of warming centres.

On Monday, Ford said more centres may be opened. City manager Joe Pennachetti also said the city is working with the school board to open more warming centres. So far, 500 people are using the centres.

Ford said another priority is to have power restored to 63 Toronto Community Housing Corp. buildings.

Power to Toronto East General Hospital has been restored, and Ford said Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre’s power should be restored by this afternoon. The hospital remains on generator power.

City officials will provide another update at 4 p.m.

Toronto Hydro CEO and president Anthony Haines was also on hand to update the power outage situation, saying there are 227,000 customers who remain without power.

He said he feels like “we’re winning the war.” He said the goal for Monday is to tackle the so-called big feeders, which feed power to thousands of customers.

“I can’t give you a time-frame on when the last power will be restored,” adding that once the feeder issue is resolved, hydro crews will have to go from house to house to address the issue.

“That is very time consuming work and it’s very manpower intensive. So that last bit will be tougher to do.”

At the height of the storm, 300,000 homes and businesses were without power. Click here for the power outage map.

In a live interview on City’s Breakfast Television, Haines said the power outages across the city may extend longer than the original estimate of 72 hours, saying people may remain in the dark past Christmas.

At the news conference, Haines was asked if power will be back by Christmas.

“At this point it’s premature to say for sure,” he said.

“Prudently, right now, we should expect the worst; in other words make plans for a multiple day.”

He said the utility has asked for additional help from across Ontario.

On Sunday, Haines called the storm a “weather catastrophe” and described it as worse than the ice storm in Ontario in January 1998.

GTA outages

Powerstream said 29,000 customers are without power in York Region. In a tweet the company said it expects the “majority” of their network “to be back up and running by the end of today.”

In Mississauga, Enersource said 539 customers don’t have power, while Veridian Connections said around 26,000 customers in Ajax, Bowmanville, Newcastle, Pickering and Port hope are still without power.

Outside of the GTA, Hydro One, which serves much of rural Ontario, reported just under 114,000 customers were affected, which is down from 131,000.

Transit updates

TTC CEO Andy Byford said all streetcars were up and running on Monday, but that the Sheppard subway line was still out of service. The Scarborough RT was expected to be running “imminently.”

On the Bloor-Danforth line, there will be no subway service between Woodbine and Kennedy stations. Shuttle buses are operating.

Also, subways were bypassing Yorkdale station on the Yonge-University-Spadina line, but the TTC said service was to resume at sunrise. Also, subways are bypassing North York Center station due to a power outage.

Click here for real times updates.

GO Transit has restored some power to the Lakeshore East line, but not the Whitby and Oshawa stations, which remain inaccessible. It said service will be operating on an adjusted schedule on Monday.

Click here for TTC updates and here for GO Transit.

Flight updates

At this point, there are around 60 cancelled flights — delays and cancellations — at Pearson International Airport. Passengers are being advised to check their flights before heading to the airport. Click here updates at Pearson.

Tips during a power outage (Source: City of Toronto)

During an outage:

Unplug or turn off all appliances to avoid possible damage when power resumes.
Turn off water to the clothes washer and dishwasher if they are in use when the power goes out.
Leave a light or radio on so you will know when power is restored.
When power has been restored, check all fuses to ensure that none have been blown, before calling Toronto Hydro.
Plug in only the most essential appliances first, and wait 10 to 15 minutes to give the electrical system time to stabilize before connecting everything else.

How to report a power outage:

Call Toronto Hydro-Electric System’s Lights Out number at 416-542-8000. Add the number to your list of other emergency numbers.

After power is restored, try to limit electricity use to help relieve potential strain on the system. Energy conservation tips include:

  • Turning off all non-essential internal and external lights
  • Limiting the use of major power-consuming equipment such as dishwashers, washers and dryers.

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