Power was restored in downtown Toronto early Friday morning after most people living downtown and the Port Lands suffered through a hot night without any electricity to help keep them cool.
The power went out at around 8:30 p.m. Thursday, leaving thousands in the dark. It came back on throughout the city at around 4:30 a.m., according to Toronto Hydro, though residents living in a highrise on Mill Street in the Distillery District told CP24 they were still without power at 6:30 a.m.
Toronto Hydro spokesperson Jennifer Link said crews likely won’t know the exact cause of the outage until the weekend but for now, officials believe the problem started because of a circuit that overloaded and overheated at George and Adelaide streets.
Link said Toronto Hydro is asking residents to keep cool today with air conditioning but to try and keep the thermometre at about 26C.
Toronto is under a humidex advisory today and the temperature is expected to soar to 36 C, though with the humidity it is expected to feel more like 42.
Link said people should always put their safety first and not worry about a possible strain to the power grid.
“Keep cool and be comfortable,” she said. “Make sure you are safe in these hot conditions. An overload does cause stress on the distribution system but safety is a main priority. Toronto Hydro can expect things like this to happen.”
As of 10:30 p.m. Thursday, about 6,500 hydro customers were without electricity in a general area bordered by Carlton Street to the north, York Street to the west, the city’s waterfront to the south and the Don Valley Parkway to the east, in addition to part of the Port Lands.
People make the most of it
While the outage was a big inconvenience due to the heat, some people tried to have fun with it. Many turned to Twitter and Facebook to make quips or post pictures as they passed the time in candle-lit rooms.
At one point, the hashtag #darkTO was the top Twitter trend in Toronto.
On her Twitter account, Leslie Walsh, whose suite in the St. Lawrence Market was affected, uploaded a picture of two candles and a glass of water.
“It’s been an easy thing to weather,” Walsh told CP24. “Nobody seems to be overly concerned.”
Walsh said she wasn’t aware of the outage until her neighbour mentioned it, so she went onto her balcony and looked at the buildings below.
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