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Extensive damage from the major thunderstorm that ripped through the area Saturday (June 4), meant delays in restoring power to many customers.

That's the word from Hydro One spokesperson Danielle Gauvim.

"The combination of high wind and lightning strikes resulted in 15 broken hydro poles in the Walkerton service area," she said. "We had lines down and we lost some transmission feeder lines. Our crews were calling in with reports of a lot of damage. And it was different types of damage - the most extensive we've seen in some time."

Gauvim said 6,000 customers in the Owen Sound area and south were without power Saturday afternoon. The majority of those had hydro restored by Saturday night, with about 500 still in the dark until Sunday.

In the Walkerton area, 7,000 customers were without power Saturday morning until that afternoon or evening. About 350 did not have the lights on until Sunday.

"It was a major outage," said Gauvim. "It hit Owen Sound, Walkerton, down to Dundas and Guelph and over to Muskoka. But Owen Sound and Walkerton areas were hit the hardest."

She said Hydro One had 25 separate crews in the Walkerton area repairing lines because of the extensive damage on the ground.

Lisa Milne, chief executive officer of Westario Power, said its customers were without power due to the loss of supply from Hydro One.

The hydro went out Saturday morning for 3,500 customers in Kincardine, 3,500 customers in Port Elgin, and 2,500 customers in Southampton, said Milne, adding that the power was back on at various times throughout the day.

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Monday, June 06, 2011