Electricity restored in Moss Park more than 24 hours after power outage

Toronto Hydro says power has been restored to customers in the Moss Park area of the city, more than 24 hours after the incident was first reported.

Almost 600 customers have been without power since 8:11 a.m. Wednesday, due to what the utility says is an underground cable fault. According to an update from Toronto Hydro, power was restored around 1 p.m. on Thursday.

“As our crews continue underground repairs, we’ve identified that the cable fault causing this outage appears to be the result of a suspected third-party dig-in at an active construction site in the area,” Toronto Hydro said in a social media update just before 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.

“This work is unrelated to Toronto Hydro but appears to have damaged our infrastructure.”

In a subsequent update, Toronto Hydro said the repair process was “complex and time-consuming” due to the location of the fault.

“It involves safely identifying, repairing and testing the damaged infrastructure before we can return it to service.”

Toronto Hydro initially said it hoped to have service restored “around 8:30 a.m.” Thursday and updated that timing to 11:30 a.m. before saying it wouldn’t be restored until the afternoon.

“The damage caused by the third-party contractor is extensive, with the dig-ins occurring in multiple spots,” said Toronto Hydro. “Rest assured, our teams are doing everything possible to get the lights back on as soon as they can. We know this prolonged outage has been difficult, and we truly appreciate your patience.”

The outage affected customers in an area bounded by Queen Street East to the north, Front Street East to the south, Jarvis Street to the west, and Parliament Street to the east.