toronto power outage

Here's how a boat completely wiped out electricity in a huge section of Toronto

This might be a first for Toronto.

If you're without electricity right now (or stuck in an elevator) you can thank a gigantic boat for that.

Toronto Hydro confirmed they're investigating reports that a barge carrying an erect crane at the Port Lands knocked out a couple of high-voltage transmission lines.

"We continue to try and reroute power to bring @TorontoHydro customers back as safely and quickly as possible."

Multiple unconfirmed videos circulating on social media claim to show said barge in Lake Ontario coming into contact with the lines.

Toronto Fire Services has yet to respond to blogTO's request asking if they were called to the scene for an explosion at the Port Lands.

There is still no confirmed timeframe for when the power is expected to return.

Toronto Hydro's outage map shows the concentration of the blackout to be just east of the downtown core; like Cabbagetown, Regent Park and Moss Park.

Small outage pockets have also been reported in Alexandra Park, Riverdale, East Bayfront and the Studio District.

Some people have pointed out that this outage occured extremely close to the mega, basically province-wide blackout of 2003, which occurred on Aug. 14. 

Lead photo by

Hydro One 


Latest Videos



Latest Videos


Join the conversation Load comments

Latest in City

What Toronto looked like over 155 years ago

The surprisingly radical history of that church they built the Toronto Eaton Centre around

Toronto has one of the highest unemployment rates among major cities in Canada

The average hourly wage for Canadian employees is now almost $35

This Ontario city is trying to lure residents from Toronto with its cheap cost of living

This ultra-poisonous Ontario plant looks delicious but can easily kill you

Here's why there's an abandoned space-age bunker below a Toronto highway

People in Toronto wondering about mysterious black boxes spotted around the city