Veridian updates its community power outage status report

AJAX, ON, Dec. 24, 2013 /CNW/ - Veridian crews continue to work in the communities of Pickering, Ajax, Clarington and Port Hope to restore power to customers affected by last weekend's severe ice storm. Service has been restored to more than 3,000 customers since the time of Veridian's last status update of six hours ago.  Approximately 4,000 Veridian customers continue to be without power.

Recent restoration activity includes:

• About 2,000 customers in the Town of Ajax. Power has largely been restored to the area south of Bayly St. E., north of Dreyer Dr. E., west of Pickering Beach Rd. and east of Southwood Park
• The majority of affected customers in the Town of Port Hope
• About 800 customers in the City of Pickering. This includes:
• Most of the area south of Highway 401, north of Lake Ontario, west of Whites Rd. and east the Rouge River; and,
• Altona Rd., north of the 3^rd Concession and south of the 5^th Concession
• All of Whitevale Road, including the Hamlet of Whitevale

Following is a list of the more significant known power outages as of 8 p.m. today:

Port Hope - While service has been restored to a majority of the town, outages continue in isolated pockets that include Scriven Blvd., Bruton St., Hope St. and Beamish St. Restoration activity in the Town of Port Hope will be suspended late this evening and will recommence early on December 25^th.

Orono - About 45 customers in Orono are currently without power. The affected streets include Church St., Station St., Bowen St. and Rowe St. The cause of the problem has been identified. Repair work has been scheduled for December 25^th.

Ajax - Approximately 2,500 customers remain without power, in the following general areas:

1. South of Highway 401, north of Clements Rd. E., west of Pickering Beach Rd. and east of MacKenzie Ave.
2. South of Highway 2, north of Highway 401, west of Westney Rd. S. and east of Church St. S.
3. Riverside St. south of Rossland Road
4. Bryant Rd. and Archer Drive

Restoration efforts will continue overnight in areas 2 and 3. Work in area 1 and will commence on December 25^th. Efforts at restoring service in area 4 may commence later on December 25^th or on December 26^th.

Pickering - Outages continue in the following areas:

South Pickering - Approximately 700 customers in the following areas continue to be without service:

1. The entire area south of Highway 2, north of Lake Ontario, west of Westshore Blvd. and east of Whites Rd.
2. Scattered areas in the Bay Ridges neighbourhood, primarily in the centre core and areas north of Annland St. and south of Radom St.
3. Dyson Rd., Rodd Ave. And Bella Vista Dr.

Restoration efforts are currently focussed on area 1. It is projected that service may be restored later this evening or overnight. Overhead lines in the remaining affected areas will be assessed overnight to support the commencement of repair work on December 25^th.

North Pickering - Approximately 300 customers in the following areas continue to be without service.

1. Along 9^th Concession, west of Lakeridge Rd. and east of Brock Rd.
2. Along 8^th Concession, west of Brock Rd. and east of Sideline 22
3. Along 7^th Concession, west of Salem Rd. and east of Sideline 12
4. All of Greenwood Road
5. Along Highway 7, west of Lakeridge Rd. and east of Salem Rd.

Restoration efforts in these areas will recommence as crews become available, but not likely until December 26^th.

Miscellaneous - Smaller scale outages have been identified throughout the community in the following areas:

1. Sections of the Major Oaks subdivision, including Duberry Dr.
2. All of Tillings Road
3. Sections of the area immediately south and east of the intersection of Taunton Rd. and Brock Rd.
4. Spruce Hill Rd. and Jacqueline Ave.

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

While Veridian continues to be committed to restoring power to all affected customers as quickly as possible, equipment damage affecting individual customers may result in prolonged power outages.

In some cases, repairs to customer owned meter bases and service masts must be completed before Veridian is able to restore service to individual customers. The repair or replacement of such equipment must be carried out by a licensed electrical contractor retained by the customer. Approved contractors can be found at http://applications.dmtispatial.com/esa/ or by calling ESA at 1.877.372.7233.

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