‘Animal contact’ results in thousands losing power in parts of Toronto

Animal contact is being blamed for a massive power outage that affected thousands of customers in parts of Toronto on Friday evening.

Toronto Hydro said they began receiving reports of “large-scale outages” in midtown Toronto and north Scarborough around 5:30 p.m. The utility said the outages were the result of a loss of supply from Hydro One.

At its peak upwards of 40,000 customers were without power, according to Toronto Hydro.

Power was eventually restored to all customers around 6 p.m.

Hydro One later confirmed that the cause was due to “animal contact” with equipment at the Ellesmere Transformer Station in Scarborough.

The provincial utility did not elaborate on what kind of animal it was or just how the station was affected but according to Toronto City Councillor Josh Matlow it was a raccoon.

According to Hydro One, a raccoon is to blame for the massive power outage that affected a large part of our city this evening. There is now an active investigation into whether or not a uniquely Toronto apocalypse is upon us.

— Josh Matlow (@JoshMatlow) January 7, 2023