Raccoon knocks out power for large swaths of downtown Toronto

A raccoon is behind the massive power outage in downtown Toronto that is currently affecting 7,000 customers.

Hydro One said a raccoon “made contact with equipment” at a downtown station and the utility is currently working with Toronto Hydro to restore the power, which it says will gradually return to customers.

“We’re currently responding to an outage affecting customers in and around the following boundaries: St. Clair Avenue W to Gerrard Street W and Avenue Road to the Don Valley Parkway,” Toronto Hydro said in a statement on X, formerly Twitter. 

Toronto Hydro’s outage map reveals the outage started at around 7:40 p.m.Their estimate as of 8:45 p.m.was that power would be restored by 6 a.m. Friday morning. However, Hydro One said it does not have an exact ETA.

“Crews have been dispatched and we’ll provide an update as more information becomes available,” the online statement reads.

HydroOne also said it is responding to an outage “on our transmission system,” which is affecting Toronto Hydro’s services.

A spokesperson for Toronto Fire Services confirmed to CTV News Toronto that there are currently seven elevator rescue calls, including on Bloor, Collegeand Ontario streets, with the power outat those buildings and occupants in the elevators.

“Typically, a building will have backup power if it’s a big enough building, but these might be smaller buildings or where the backup power has failed,” Toronto Fire Capt. Deepak Chagger said. “People are actually stuck in the elevator so that’s pending us making access to them or power being restored.”

TTC subway service on Line 1 had also been impacted by the outage, but it has since resumed.