Staff
Hydro One customers in parts of Rainy River District lost power late last night due to high winds and lightning.
About 750 district customers saw their power go out around 11 p.m., with electricity being restored for most of them about three hours later, after Hydro One crews responded to a total of 17 incidents and made necessary repairs.
A few isolated incidents also were reported this morning, but were expected to be fixed today.
Meanwhile, Fort Frances Power Corp. customers in the central part of town lost power for several hours yesterday due to lightning strikes.
FFPC Superintendent Brian Mueller said lightning blasted three separate transformers and one lightning arrestor—knocking out power to residents and businesses in the downtown area as well as in parts of the north and south ends.
“That was a severe lightning storm,” noted Mueller, adding it’s fortunate the high winds also didn’t cause problems.
The power went out at 11 a.m. and came back online as crews were able to repair them, with some places being out for anywhere from two to three-and-a-half hours, said Mueller.
The strikes happened on Third Street East, Church Street, and at the Sorting Gap Marina.
“They did a good job to bring it back online in that amount of time,” said Mueller, noting FFPC staff were able to sectionalize the outage area, pinpoint the problems, and restore power to the outlying sections as they focused on making repairs in the specific damaged area.
FFPC customers in the east and west ends of town saw only a momentary bump just prior to 11 a.m.
