A large area near Highway 401 and Leslie suffered a blackout Monday afternoon after a transport truck toppled a hydro pole after it became tangled in some power lines.
As the driver exited a warehouse parking lot on Duncan Mill Road, he caught some overhanging cables with the top of the truck's cabin, stretching them until they snapped a nearby pole in two.
The accident knocked out electricity to a large area between Finch Avenue and Don Mills Road, and Bayview Avenue and Leslie Street.
"The problem is right now is the pole split completely in half," contractor Michael Dick told CTV Toronto when he was sent to fix the blackout. "It's the worst I've ever seen around Toronto."
Those who saw it happen say the driver of the vehicle was lucky to escape the blaze caused by the fallen electricity lines.
"I saw the flames. It was just going up 40 or 50 feet," Mo Hesarki, a told CTV Toronto. "I saw the driver of the truck just trying to come out, and luckily nothing happened to that guy."
Other witnesses said they had seen at least six similar accidents in the same area.
At 6 p.m. Monday evening, work had not begun to erect the fallen pole.
