Region crews cleaning up debris while hydro being restored
UXBRIDGE — A lightning bolt strike to an Uxbridge power station Monday night is responsible for a lengthy hydro outage to almost 2,000 Hydro One customers in the township, according to the utility company’s spokeswoman.
Daniele Gauvin said sometime during a severe thunderstorm, during which heavy rain and hail pelted the town, lightning struck a power distribution station “on the outskirts of Uxbridge” which caused a transformer failure. Some residents of Uxbridge reported being without power for 12 hours, beginning 8:30 p.m. Monday.
More than 2,000 customers, most of them within Uxbridge township borders, were affected, said Ms. Gauvin. But by 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, a mobile transformer was brought in and power was back online to all customers in Uxbridge, explained Ms. Gauvin.
Uxbridge Fire Chief Scott Richardson said firefighters were called to a transformer fire at about 9:30 p.m. Monday, noting Hydro One crews were already on scene. At 4:30 p.m. the same day, the fire department responded to reports of trees down on Lakeridge Road, between Hwy. 47 and Davis Drive, said the chief. “Apparently trees blocked one lane,” he said.
Region road crews sprang into action Monday night and remained in clean-up mode Tuesday morning.
Jim Gorrill of Durham Region works was clearing debris from the side of Lakeridge Road, just south of Davis Drive, Tuesday morning. He said he and his two workmates had started the job of tossing wood debris into a chipper at 7:30 a.m. but a crew had already been out overnight to cut up damaged branches.
“We have our work cut out for us today, that’s for sure,” said Mr. Gorrill. “We’ll likely be out here all day.” He said some of the cut wood is left at the roadside, and is free to the public.
He noted Sandford Road was also affected, with some trees downed there.
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