A squirrel is to blame for a Thursday morning power outage in Toronto’s east end that caused rush hour headaches for some TTC riders.
The outage was sparked after the squirrel made contact with a line on a hydro pole, near Dundas Street and Broadview Avenue, sometime before 8 a.m.
When the rodent touched the line carrying 13,800 volts of power, an explosion occurred, leading to a fire and knocking out power to hundreds of residences in Leslieville, Riverdale, East Chinatown and the Studio District.
At the height of the situation, Toronto Hydro estimated that 3,800 customers were affected. The impacted area shrank by the late morning and was almost completely restored by the late afternoon.
The outage prevented streetcars from leaving the Leslie Barns storage facility, causing “longer than normal wait times” on all routes.
Full service resumed shortly before 9 a.m.
TTC spokesperson Kadeem Griffiths said buses and old streetcars were dispatched to alleviate the wait. Buses continued to run along all routes through rush hour to help supplement service.
Tori Gass with Toronto Hydro said efforts are underway to repair the burnt hydro pole.
