Veridian updates its community power outage status report

AJAX, ON, Dec. 23, 2013 /CNW/ - Within the past hour, Veridian crews have successfully restored power to approximately 7,800 customers impacted by the weekend ice storm. It is estimated that about 13,000 customers now remain without power.

The most recent power restorations include 500 customers in the Town of Port Hope, 6,800 customers in the City of Pickering and 500 customers in Ajax. All occurred at approximately 10 p.m.

Veridian line and tree trimming crews will continue their work through the night to clear and repair overhead lines impacted by ice laden trees.

Following is a list of the more significant known power outages as of 10:30 p.m. today:

Port Hope - An estimated 500 customers remain without power. Service will not be restored until tomorrow at the earliest.

Orono - About 45 customers in Orono are currently without power. The cause of the problem is a damaged pole that has been identified. Service will not be restored until tomorrow at the earliest.

Ajax - Outages are concentrated in an area bounded by Highway #2 to the north, Lake Ontario to the south, Westney Road to the west and Lakeridge Rd. to the east. The area is supplied by six supply feeders, three of which have now been restored. The remaining three feeders serve approximately 4,400 customers. While some of these customers will likely see service restored tomorrow, most may be without power into Christmas Day.

Pickering - Outages continue in the following areas:

• South-west Pickering - Approximately 1,000 customers in the area west of Dixie Road and south of Highway #2 continue to be without service. Service will not be restored until tomorrow at the earliest.
  
  
• South-east Pickering - Approximately 1,000 customers, primarily businesses, are without power in the area bounded by Highway #401 to the north, Lake Ontario to the south, Brock Road to the west and Church Street to the east. Service crews have patrolled lines to assess damage. The commencement of repair work is tentatively scheduled for tomorrow.
  
  
• North Pickering - Approximately 2,500 customers in the communities of Claremont, Brougham, Green River, Greenwood and surrounding areas north of the third Concession are without service. Service crews continue to work in this area, and many customers may have service restored overnight and into tomorrow.
  
  
• Bay Ridges/Frenchman's Bay - Approximately 2,000 customers are without power in an area bounded by Sandy Beach Rd. to the east, Frenchman's Bay to the west, and Bayly Street to the north. Overhead lines in this area have been patrolled to identify areas in need of attention. Work on identified problem areas will likely commence tomorrow.
  
  
• Miscellaneous - Smaller scale outages have been reported near the intersections of Brock Road/Major Oaks Road and Brock Road/Kingston Road.

Residents who reside outside of the above geographic zones should call 1-866-579-6819 to report that they are without power.

Please be advised that Veridian's Twitter account (@VeridianTweets) and media communications will resume tomorrow morning.

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 fallen wires to Veridian's 24-hour Outage Hotline by calling 1-866-579-6819.

Veridian Connections Inc. safely and reliably delivers electricity to more than 116,000 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