Squirrel to blame for power outage in part of downtown Toronto, Hydro One says

A squirrel that made contact with a transformer was to blame for a power outage in part of downtown Toronto on Wednesday, Hydro One says.

The outage began around 1:30 p.m., south of Queen Street West from Spadina Avenue to Yonge Street, north of the Gardiner Expressway. Power was restored after about three hours. 

Up to 5,000 customers may have been affected, according to Toronto Hydro's website. 

The outage was caused by a squirrel making contact with a transformer, which caused a breaker to fail, Hydro One told CBC Toronto. The squirrel did not survive. 

The outage impacted the supply of electricity from Hydro One to Toronto Hydro, Hydro One told CBC Toronto. 

Though power is restored, crews are still on scene at John Transmission Station making repairs. 

"John Transmission Station has a number of barriers to keep animals safe and out of the station," Hydro One said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

"We will look at additional measures to put in place to prevent future incidents of this nature."

In 2023, squirrels caused 80 outages in Toronto after coming into contact with power equipment, Toronto Hydro said. 

The same year, birds caused 30 outages and raccoons caused 13 outages. 

The TTC said Wednesday's outage did not cause any service disruptions.

OCAD University's campus building at 230 Richmond St. W. was closed due to the outage but has since reopened, the university said in a post on X. Power was out at CBC Toronto's Front Street building but returned around 3:50 p.m. 

Outage happened during The Lion King performance

Mirvish Productions said the Princess of Wales Theatre was affected, as power went out 20 minutes into the matinee performance of The Lion King. 

Although the theatre has a backup generator, the show was cancelled at 1:30 p.m. "when it was clear the regular power source would not return in a timely fashion," Mirvish spokesperson John Karastamatis said in an email. 

"Right now we are contacting all audience members affected and arranging for them to see a future performance of the show at their convenience," he said. 

The theatre's 7 p.m. performance is expected to go on as scheduled, he said.