Pat Ensley, manager of operations for Cleveland Utilities said Cleveland Utilities customers were not affected.

Hydro One restores power to more than 120,000 customers in the wake of winter storm

TORONTO, Nov. 17 /CNW/ - Hydro One has restored power to more than
120,000 customers affected by high winds and heavy snow that began late
Saturday night. The Company is still working to restore electricity to the
approximately 36,000 Hydro One customers who are still without power this
morning.
Hydro One crews have been busy assessing and repairing the damage
resulting from the storm since early Saturday evening. Crews report that they
continue to see significant numbers of downed poles and trees on lines. While
poor weather has mostly subsided, some areas continue to experience windy
conditions which are hampering efforts and bringing new outages.
Crews are being moved from across the province to aid in the restoration
effort, and more than 800 staff are involved. The Company expects that some
customers in the hardest hit and remote areas may be without power until later
this week. The Company will continue to update the status of its restoration
efforts.

<<
The most impacted areas include:

——————————————
Number of Hydro One
Area Most Impacted Customers Affected
——————————————
Penetanguishene 10,000
——————————————
Bracebridge 9,400
——————————————
Barrie 6,000
——————————————
Orillia 6,000
——————————————
Huntsville 4,000
——————————————
Minden 1,400
——————————————
>>

“Power outages in the winter are a serious concern for our customers and
we will do all possible to have people restored as quickly and safely as we
can,” said Myles D’Arcey, Senior Vice President, Customer Operations, Hydro
One. “We will continue to deploy all available resources to restore power and
as power is restored in one area, crews will be redeployed to assist with
further restoration efforts.”

Important Safety Information

Hydro One strongly urges people to take extra precaution near fallen
power lines. Even if a fallen wire seems dead, it can be dangerous. People are
urged to report to Hydro One the location of the fallen wires as soon as
possible. Touching a vehicle that is in contact with a power line can be
fatal.
For the most recent information on power outages go to
www.HydroOneNetworks.com.

Hydro One delivers electricity safely, reliably and responsibly to homes
and businesses across the province of Ontario and owns and operates Ontario’s
28,000 kilometre high-voltage transmission network that delivers electricity
to large industrial customers and municipal utilities, and a 125,000 kilometre
low-voltage distribution system that serves about 1.3 million end-use
customers and smaller municipal utilities in the province. Hydro One is wholly
owned by the Province of Ontario.

Thousands of homes in our region are without power today.

Hydro One says 35 thousand homes in Penetanguishene, Orillia, Huntsville and Bracebridge are in the dark.

That’s out of a total of 45 thousand hydro one customers across the province without power.

About 27 hundred homes in Collingwood, Essa Township and Sunnidale Corners are also without power.

Hydro One Spokesperson Corey Labatt says the wintery weather has knocked out the power and downed trees.

He says their helicopters are grounded so they can’t even assess some of the damage in some more remote areas.

Labatt says they will bringing in crews from across the province to get power back on hopefully by the end of the day, but some homes may have to go another night without hydro.

He adds power is likely to go off and on through out the day as the storm continues, particularly to the north of us.

This follows an announcement by the Department of Water and Power that it would institute rolling blackouts to reduce load on its system, as power lines in the Newhall Pass area have been taken out of service as the fire burns through the area.

TORONTO — Electricity has been cut to more than over 12,000 Hydro One customers north of Toronto.The utility’s website says over 10,800 customers were affected shortly after 10 a.m. in King City, Uxbridge, Markham and surrounding areas, The cause of the outage has not yet been determined, but Hydro One says service is expected to be restored by just after 1 p.m.

Another outage hit 1,500 customers in the Bracebridge area.

Most of those homes and businesses are expected to have their electricity back between 12 p.m. and 12:45 p.m.

Name of Product: Portable Generators

Units: About 13,000

Importer: General Power Products LLC, of Loveland, Ohio

Hazard: The generator’s fuel valve can be damaged by the cover plate during shipment and cause a fuel leak and fuel spillage during use, posing a fire hazard to consumers.

Incidents/Injuries: General Power Products has received 14 reports of damaged fuel valves. No injuries have been reported.

Description: This recall includes the General Power Products 6000 Watt portable generator and the Poulan Pro 6000 Watt portable generator with serial numbers 060400483 through 060600725. The serial number is stamped on the engine block which is located on the front of the engine below the generator’s control panel. General Power Products and 6000 Generator are printed on the side of the General Power Products generator. Poulan Pro and 6000 watts are printed on the side of the Poulan Pro generator.

Sold at: Hardware and home improvement stores primarily located in Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Ohio and Texas from June 2008 through September 2008 for between $600 and $800.

Manufactured in: China

Remedy: Consumers should immediately stop using the generators and contact General Power Products to determine if the generators fuel valve is damaged and, if it is, to receive a free repair kit and instructions.

Consumer Contact: For additional information, contact General Power Products toll-free at (877) 428-3769 24 hours a day, seven days a week, or visit the firms Web site at www.generalpowerproducts.com

The Larimer County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Impact Unit conducted the investigation into the operation and was assisted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration during the search of the Laporte address.

The storm left behind as much as 15 centimetres of snow and thousands of homes and businesses were without power.

Wet, heavy snow downed tree branches and power lines, knocking out power for about 22,000 Hydro One customers in eastern Ontario and more than 70,000 customers in Quebec.

In Ontario, the majority of power outages hit east of highway 4-16 to the Quebec border and included Winchester, Arnprior, Brockville and Vankleek Hill.

As of Wednesday evening, roughly 8,000 homes and businesses were still without power.

In Quebec, the number of households without power was down in the evening to 51,000, from as much as 70,000 earlier in the day.

There are now 150 repair crews working around the clock to restore power to the affected areas, which include:

• more than 31,000 customers in the hard-hit Laurentians;
• some 5,600 homes in Mont Tremblant;
• 2,000 residences in La Minerve, a town north of Mont Tremblant;
• 4,000 residences in St. Adolphe d’Howard
• about 2,700 customers in the Lanaudieres

In the Outaouais region, Gatineau has been restored, but there are still 17,000 clients in other areas (down from nearly 30,000) that are still affected.

Hydro crews in Quebec cannot speculate when full power will be restored, CTV Montreal reported.

The good news for trick-or-treaters is that all snow should be melted in time for Halloween night, as temperatures are expected to rise throughout the region toward the end of the week.

The forecast for Ottawa calls for rain and a temperature of 12 C for Halloween.

The storm blew north from the east coast of the U.S., which saw anywhere from five to 30 centimetres of snow Tuesday, causing power outages and road and school closures throughout New York State, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Eastern Ontario’s first snowfall came early this year. Last year’s first major storm hit the area on November 16.

The 2007/2008 winter season was one of the snowiest in recent memory for the region, as snowfall levels approached the 1970-71 record of 441.1 centimetres.