Veridian service territory escapes Hurricane Sandy with minor outages and damage

AJAX, ON, Oct. 30, 2012 /CNW/ - The high winds and heavy rainfall that made its way through Veridian's service areas late yesterday afternoon and overnight caused minor damage and a handful of local power outages. Utility staff worked during the night to receive and respond to an estimated 90 calls from customers who reported outages, damaged trees and broken poles.

The majority of reported outages affected less than 20 customers. Larger scale outages took place in sections of Gravenhurst, Orono and north Pickering, each affecting between 490 and 800 customers. Approximately 100 customers in north Pickering, 490 customers in Orono and 1,000 customers in Gravenhurst are currently without power. The majority of the sustained outages are due to interruptions in the upstream power supply to Veridian from Hydro One. Veridian crews are currently deployed in north Pickering and sections of Gravenhurst to carry out repairs to local distribution equipment.

Veridian Chair Doug Dickerson applauded the efforts of Veridian staff who worked through the night and into the morning. "On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank everyone - from our line crews, managers, supervisors and call centre staff - who played a role in keeping our lights on and everyone safe."

Company President and CEO Michael Angemeer echoed Chair Dickerson's comments, saying "I'm very proud of the dedication and safe work displayed by our staff, and satisfied that our asset and management practices have enabled our distribution system to withstand Hurricane Sandy's high winds and heavy rain fall. It's times like these that our employees go above and beyond the call of duty, and their efforts are very much appreciated."

Veridian customers are reminded to exercise extreme caution around damaged poles and downed wires. All fallen wires should be considered live and dangerous. Customers are urged to report the locations of damaged poles and fallen wires immediately to Veridian's 24-hour Outage Hotline at 1-866-579-6819.

Veridian Connections Inc. safely and reliably delivers electricity to more than 115,000 customers in the Cities of Pickering and Belleville, the Towns of Ajax, Port Hope and Gravenhurst, and the communities of Uxbridge, Bowmanville, Newcastle, Orono, Port Perry, Beaverton, Sunderland and Cannington. Veridian Connections Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Veridian Corporation. The City of Pickering, the Town of Ajax, the Municipality of Clarington and the City of Belleville jointly own Veridian Corporation.

SOURCE: Veridian

Chris Mace
Sales & PR Representative - Corporate Communications
Veridian Connections Inc.
905-427-9870, extension 2218