A large portion of Toronto's west end is in darkness this evening following a sudden and massive power outage. The lights went off around 9:15 and some reports on Twitter mentioned a bright flash in the sky.
Toronto Hydro says the issue was caused by a Hydro One transmission issue. The latest outage map on the electricity provider's website says the worst of the problem is confined to an area south of the 401, west of Caledonia Road, where more than 25,000 customers are in the dark. Service is also patchy south of Lawrence, west of Bathurst, through midtown and into the Port Lands.
Some traffic lights are out (remember to treat intersections as a four-way stop) but the TTC says full service has resumed on Line 2 (Bloor-Danforth.) Brad Ross said the power failure knocked out some communication systems, leading to a delay deploying shuttle buses. The vehicles are still out while service below ground catches up. Streetcar service was unaffected.
In the last few minutes, power has been restored to parts of High Park, Roncesvalles, Bloor West Village, the Junction, St. Clair West, the Annex, and pockets north to around Dufferin and Glencairn.
Mayor Rob Ford told listeners of Joe Warmington's Newstalk 1010 show that power should be restored to the remaining customers before midnight.
Chris Bateman is a staff writer at blogTO. Follow him on Twitter at @chrisbateman.
Image: Jason Tang/Twitter