Thousands see Hydro One outages in Greenstone, Upsala

Nearly 3,500 Hydro One customers in Greenstone spent Monday night, and Tuesday morning without electricity.

The lights went out in the northwestern Ontario community around 7:15 p.m. Monday. 

Hydro One spokesperson Nancy Shaddick said the utility has restored power to about 600 customers. She said it may take a while to get service fully restored to all.

Hydro One's estimate is to have electricity fully restored by 4 p.m.

"Hydro one conducted patrols last night on the ground and at the station that is affected by the outage, in Longlac. And this morning, at first light, we have sent a helicopter out to patrol the circuit that is inaccessible by road." 

Affected communities include Geraldton, Longlac, Jellicoe, Beardmore, Orient Bay, Nakina, Aroland First Nation, Long Lake 58 First Nation and Ginoogaming First Nation.

Shaddick said crews are still trying to determine exactly what happened.

Another major outage in the region — along Highway 17 near Upsala — is affecting 350 customers. 

That outage is expected to be repaired by 5 p.m. today.

In Atikokan, residents have been advised to boil their drinking water until tests prove the water is safe.

Mayor Dennis Brown said one pump in the water treatment plant went down for about nine minutes on Monday night during a thunderstorm.