Burst water main cuts power to 19,000

TORONTO, ONTARIO - It took nearly eight hours for Toronto Hydro and city crews to restore power to the downtown core recently after an outage that affected 19,000 customers.

Power was switched off in the Annex and Yorkville areas so crews could safely work on the broken water main near Yonge St. and Davenport Rd. that caused the disruption around 11:30 a.m., January 10, said Toronto Hydro spokesperson Denise Attallah.

The affected area was bordered by Charles St. E. in the south, Roxborough St. W. in the north, Yonge St. in the east and St. George St. in the west.

By mid-afternoon, most businesses in Yorkville had called it a day and the trendy neighbourhood was cast in darkness.

The Four Seasons hotel in Yorkville was running on back-up generated power, said marketing director Alex Filiatrault.

"Most of our rooms are heated with the back-up power and our dining rooms were serving a light meal, but most of our customers are having to go outside the Yorkville area for dinner.

"I feel really bad for residents who don't have back-up power. It's a cold night."

Most homes in the area lost power.

"One day isn't going to kill me. Its not that big a problem," said a woman as she left her McMurrich St. condominium where emergency lights were powered by a generator.

The woman, who only identified herself as Luke, said: "The elevators are still working, the building is still warm and there are lights in the garage and hallways."

With a flashlight in one hand, and holding Karen Zsito with the other, Robert Hamilton led the way to dinner along Yorkville Ave., just moments before the lights came back on.

The couple's Avenue Rd. condo has back-up power for the common areas and elevators, but individual units were without heat and light.

"This isn't too bad, but I would be worried (the following) morning if power was still out," Hamilton said.

City officials had also considered setting up warming centres if the repairs extended into the night, said spokesman Kevin Sack.

Police were also directing traffic at some intersections and reported no accidents.

The TTC also lost some of its lighting at the Museum and Bay subway stations, said spokesman Danny Nicholson. But the TTC had activated its emergency power and subway service was not affected.

Last January, nearly 250,000 residents in the west end were plunged into darkness for nearly 24 hours when a sprinkler system valve at one of the city's main transformer stations malfunctioned and flooded the building.