Approximately 5,000 Toronto residents are without power Tuesday afternoon as Toronto Hydro crews are repairing damaged equipment in need of emergency repairs.
“The crew has determined it was caused by a fire in an underground cable chamber,” Daniel McNeil, Toronto Hydro spokesperson said.
Miki Hayakawa, who lives near Yonge and Eglinton street, is among the residents affected by the outage.
“I have been out of power since last night and I just wonder why it’s taking so long to fix,” Hayakawa said.
The power outage occurred around 9 p.m. on Monday, affecting an area between Glencairn Ave. South, St. Clair Ave. East, and Avenue Rd. east to Mount Pleasant Rd, Toronto Hydro reported.
Hayakawa was surprised to still see the power off this morning. “I am currently eating cereal from a bag using my hand with no milk because I can’t keep my milk and food cold,” they said. “I normally work from home but I took the day off today since I need to use high-speed wifi.”
Toronto Hydro said customers should expect to be without power throughout the day, but they are aiming to have power restored by 3 p.m.
“At this time, the exact estimated time of restoration is difficult to pinpoint due to the complexity of the repairs, but please know that we have multiple crews on site working as quickly and safely as possible to bring power back to our customers,” McNeil said.
Several businesses have closed and traffic lights have been out of service due to the outage, but schools within the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) and Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) have not been affected.