Extreme weather causes power outages in Kincardine and area

Spring arrived Sunday, but you would be hard-pressed to believe it Thursday morning, as Kincardine and area residents awoke to find wet snow, freezing rain, and no power.

The high wind and ice pellets caused problems for both Hydro One and Westario Power as they tried to keep the lights on for not only the former Town of Kincardine, but also Ripley, Point Clark, Tiverton and areas in between, as well as Port Elgin and Southampton, and thousands of customers inland.

Around 4:30 a.m., areas south of Kincardine lost power. In the Town of Kincardine, the lights flickered a few times before the hydro went out completely around 8:30 a.m.

Lisa Milne, president and chief executive officer of Westario Power, said the power outage was caused by a loss of supply from Hydro One Networks, into the Town of Kincardine, as well as Port Elgin and Southampton. Hydro One was unable to restore power until the adverse weather conditions improved, she said. This left customers wondering when they would have power again.

Kincardine eventually had power restored around 12:30 p.m., and about a half-hour later, Port Elgin also had power, as Hydro One was able to reset the faulty equipment. And by 3 p.m., all Westario customers had hydro.

At 1:30 p.m., Hydro One conducted a forced outage to do emergency repairs, impacting Westario Power customers in Ripley and Lucknow, said Milne. The repairs were expected to take about 45 minutes. "We thank our customers for their patience during  these power outages," said Milne.

For the majority of students in the Kincardine area, it was not a day off school, and they attended regular classes despite the power outage.

At Kincardine District Secondary School, principal Mark Ozorio said the school remained open and staff was accommodating students in the library and cafeteria. Buses were running normally and if parents wanted to pick up students, they had to sign them out at the office.