Squirrel to blame for downtown Toronto power outage

FILE - A squirrel chews on a nut in Montreal, Sunday, November 22, 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues in Canada and around the world. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

A squirrel is responsible for the power outage that affected thousands of downtown Toronto residents and businesses Wednesday afternoon, Hydro One says.

The outage was reported just before 2 p.m. in the city’s Financial District. Hydro One initially said there was a loss of supply at the John Transmission Station, near John Street and Wellington Street West.

Power was restored about three hours later just before 5 p.m.

In a post on social media, Hydro One said a squirrel made contact with a transformer at the station, causing a breaker to fail.

“John Transmission Station has a number of barriers to keep animals safe and out of the station. We will look at additional measures to put in place to prevent future incidents of this nature,” the utility company added.

It was not said if the squirrel survived the incident.

This is not the first time a rodent left thousands of hydro customers without power. Last year in May, a squirrel came in contact with a transformer near George Street and King Street East, which caused a fire and a subsequent outage