Multiple unrelated power disruptions cut electricity to thousands of residents and forced school and business closures across several Canadian communities between May 23 and May 26, 2026.
Toronto Hit by Severe Weather
In Toronto, high winds and heavy rains on Saturday, May 23, caused scattered outages by damaging trees and knocking down powerlines close to wires.
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Toronto Hydro reported responding to more than 145 weather-related incidents. The utility noted that electricity restoration during severe weather requires securing areas, clearing debris, and replacing equipment.
"We know it's not easy being without power and thank everyone for their continued patience as our crews work to safely restore power," Toronto Hydro stated in a social media post on Sunday.
The utility warned residents to maintain a distance of at least 10 meters from any downed powerline and to report incidents immediately.
The severe weather caused emergency call volumes to spike significantly across the city.
Toronto Fire reported on Sunday that emergency crews responded to 671 incidents over the previous 24 hours, a 36 percent increase over normal volume due to water issues, medical calls, and downed wires.
Alberta Outage from Vehicle Collision
Separately, a Tuesday morning power outage hit parts of Alberta, initially affecting 827 customers north of Airdrie as far as Crossfield before being updated to around 640 homes.
According to the Fortis Alberta outage map, the blackout hit a large section of Airdrie along Main Street on the south side of the city, forcing several local stores to close.
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The agency received word of the glitch just after 7 a. m.
on May 26, listing a motor vehicle collision as the cause on its website, with restoration estimated before 10 a.
m.
"At this time, the cause of the outage is still under investigation, so we don't have specific details to share just yet," said Fortis Alberta spokesperson Tanya Croft.
Deer Island Outage Due to Theft
Meanwhile, in New Brunswick, over 600 customers on Deer Island lost electricity on Tuesday morning due to two unplanned blackouts.
The infrastructure failure impacted local operations and forced Deer Island Community School to close for the day.
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"There is currently no estimated restoration time, but crews are working to resolve the issue," said NB Power spokesperson Elizabeth Fraser, who attributed the outage to a theft from a substation.
