Downtown Toronto outage: Here's when you can expect power to return

Residents of Toronto got an unwelcome surprise on Thursday afternoon when a massive power outage hit the Downtown area.

Around 12:30 pm, Torontonians began reporting the outage in several areas, including Lower Jarvis, Cabbagetown, the Entertainment District, Gerrard, and Bay.

Shoppers at the Eaton Centre said the mall was without power and there were TTC disruptions and delays along the 505 Dundas line.

Hydro One and Toronto Hydro acknowledged the power outage and are working on restoration.

We continue to support Hydro One & respond to the ongoing outage. https://t.co/d5b0pbl3mS

— Toronto Hydro (@TorontoHydro) August 11, 2022

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An investigation to verify the cause of the outage is underway.

“We’re investigating reports that a barge carrying a crane came into contact with high-voltage transmission lines in the Port Lands area,” said Hydro One in a tweet at 2:14 pm. “We continue to try and reroute power to bring Toronto Hydro customers back as safely and quickly as possible.”

We now know that a transmission circuit was affected. Hydro One shared photos of the circuit and acknowledged that the outage has made the day “exceptionally difficult” for people.

UPDATE: Here’s a look at the transmission circuit that’s been affected. We know this has made today exceptionally difficult for many of you, and we appreciate your patience. We will continue to share more information as it becomes available. #DarkTO pic.twitter.com/Bw8uqXK06K

— Hydro One (@HydroOne) August 11, 2022

Now, it looks like restoration will take longer than expected.

Around 1:30 pm, Toronto Hydro’s outage map had estimated that power would be restored by 10:42 pm tonight.

Toronto Hydro

But the Estimated Restoration Time (ETR) kept fluctuating between early Thursday evening and late Thursday night and, at times, simply showing up as “under review.”

As of 3:30 pm, Hydro One predicted power restoration by 1:14 am on Friday morning for a majority of the affected areas.

Toronto Hydro

If this is bringing back memories of the Rogers wireless outage, we feel you. Because same.