Power restored after squirrel causes outage downtown: Toronto Hydro

Power has been restored following a three-hour outage that affected a large swath of downtown Toronto on Wednesday.

Toronto Hydro said the outage, which affected around 6,500 customers, was the result of a squirrel making contact with its wires.

Power went out around 10:30 a.m. and was restored just after 1:30 p.m.

Toronto Hydro said it does take “preventative measures to help mitigate issues related to animal contact,” including periodic patrols of feeders or other equipment to ensure any signs of animal encroachment are addressed. It also installs animal guards and enclosures on equipment that may be more at risk of animal contact.

The outage was from Rosedale Valley Road south to the Gardiner Expressway, and Church Street east to the Don Valley Parkway. Traffic lights were also down at several intersections across the city.

Earlier this year, a raccoon was to blame for an outage that affected about 7,000 Toronto Hydro customers in the downtown core.

At the time, Hydro One said it has looking at ways to make sure raccoons and other wildlife stay out of transmission stations.

With files from 680 NewsRadio Toronto staff