Massive power outage leaves huge chunk of Toronto in the dark

A power outage in Toronto has thrown several large swaths of Canada's largest city into complete darkness, from midtown all the way to Scarborough.

Reports of a widespread power outage started pouring in on Twitter just after 5:15 p.m. on Friday from hydro customers in Deer Park, Yonge & Eglinton, Mount Pleasant, Forest Hill, York Mills, the Scarborough Bluffs and many other neighbourhoods in north and east Toronto.

All #midtown is out of #power #Toronto @CBCToronto @CBCAlerts @CTVToronto #outofpower #yonge #eglinton #yongeeglinton pic.twitter.com/7h74UrFwVm

— Barbara de Marsillac (@babiemarsillac) January 6, 2023

"We're aware of a few large-scale outages impacting customers within the city," tweeted Toronto Hydro at 5:41 p.m. "We're investigating and will provide an update soon. Thank you for your patience."

Toronto Police provided a similar update at 5:42 p.m., writing: 

"POWER OUTAGE: Toronto police is aware of a large power outage affecting the Scarborough and Lawrence/Eglinton area. Cause of the outage is unknown. No time frame for the power to be restored. Remember to treat intersections as a 4 way stop if traffic signals are out."

From what I see via tweets it's:
⚠️West as far as at least Bathurst
⚠️East as far as Bayview
⚠️South as far as St. Clair
⚠️North as far as York Mills

Plus a whole other outage in Scarborough.

— Hibernation Mode 🥑 (@Dafkagirl) January 6, 2023

It is not clear exactly how many customers are being impacted by the outage. Toronto Hydro's outage map has yet to be updated as of 6 p.m. and shows no problems whatsoever.

Power outage in midtown (Toronto) pic.twitter.com/Xg8CLnMI7b

— NandaPrado (@nandapanda) January 6, 2023

Residents without power say they've been unable to report the outages themselves due to what looks like a rush on the website. People are literally waiting in queues for nearly an hour to report outages in their areas, suggesting that this one might be pretty big.

WTAF is this, @TorontoHydro? 41min queue to report an outage? #darkto #midtown pic.twitter.com/5H4r0nKPKX

— Devon Paul (@Devoptimus) January 6, 2023

"Outage update: We're experiencing multiple outages due to a loss of supply from Hydro One," wrote Toronto Hydro on Twitter just before 6 p.m. Friday.

"We're working together to investigate the cause and will provide further updates as soon as they become available."