Toronto Hydro crews answering call for help after Winter Storm Riley

Con Edison accepted Toronto Hydro's formal proposal for storm assistance yesterday

TORONTO, March 4, 2018 /CNW/ - Toronto Hydro has sent 27 employees fully equipped with trucks and tools to the Bronx/Westchester, New York area to help restore power following Winter Storm Riley.

Winter Storm Riley hit the Eastern United States on early Friday morning with heavy rain and gusting winds causing more than 1.6 million customer power outages. Our crews are travelling to the New York area to provide emergency assistance and help restore power to people dealing with the aftermath of the storm.

Con Edison made a formal request for storm assistance through the North Atlantic Mutual Assistance Group (NAMAG) ­– which we're a part of – and they accepted our formal storm assistance proposal yesterday. Crews are now driving to the New York area and the trip is expected to take approximately 12 to 14 hours. They departed from our Toronto location at around 8 a.m. today.

QUICK FACTS

• Con Edison, a utility serving the New York City and Westchester County area serves 3.4 million customers in a 604-square-mile service territory
• Toronto Hydro and Con Edison are members of NAMAG. NAMAG is a consortium of 26 utilities from across the North Atlantic that have signed an agreement to share resources during an emergency, such as the 2013 ice storm, tropical storms, hurricanes, and other disasters
• Toronto Hydro was awarded with The Edison Electric Institute Emergency Assistance Award for its outstanding work assisting customers impacted by Hurricane Irma in September 2017. This award recognizes an outstanding response in assisting other electric companies in power restoration efforts following severe weather conditions.

QUOTES

"We were lucky to be spared from the severe winter storm that caused wide-spread damage in the Eastern United States. When we got the call for help from several U.S. utilities, we mobilized as soon as possible and our offer to help was accepted by Con Edison in New York. Our crews are now on their way to help with power restoration efforts."

-  Sheikh Nahyaan, General Manager, Distribution Grid Operations and Emergency Management, Toronto Hydro

ABOUT TORONTO HYDRO
Toronto Hydro owns and operates the electricity distribution system for Canada's largest city. A leader in conservation and demand management, it has 766,000 customers located in the city of Toronto and distributes approximately 20% of the electricity consumed in Ontario.

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SOURCE Toronto Hydro Corporation