Power restored to Pickering, parts of Ajax after massive outage

Toronto.ctvnews.ca
May 2, 2018
Racheal D’Amore

Power has been restored to residents of Pickering and the west side of Ajax, after an issue with a Hydro One source left thousands in the dark.

The outage, which began around 1:30 p.m., affected approximately 37,000 Veridian Connections customers.

Hydro One spokesperson Tiziana Baccega Rosa told CP24 via phone that crews located the issue at Cherrywood Transmission Station, which is near Highway 401.

While crews are still working to determine what happened, Baccega Rosa said power is now back on for Veridian customers.

“It happens from time to time,” Baccega Rosa said. “Sometimes it’s a momentary outage, it just depends on what is causing that trip to happen and those protections to come on.”

Veridian spokesperson Chris Mace says the widespread outage could be a result of a “number of issues” but there is no definitive answer yet.

“I haven’t seen anything like this since the 2013 ice storm,” he told CP24 via phone. “So with this number of customers, approximately 37,000, it’s definitely a lot and it’s something we don’t like to see.”

The City of Pickering temporarily suspended all activities scheduled at the Don Beer Arena, the Pickering Recreation Complex, the Dunbarton High School pool and the East Shore Community Centre as a result of the outage.

Earlier, Durham Catholic District School Board said classes had not been cancelled due to the outage but warned parents that some of their phone systems may have been affected.