Fort Erie polling places get emergency power amid ‘widespread’ hydro outage
Published October 24, 2022 at 3:02 pm
Officials with the Town of Fort Erie are giving reassurance that lack of electricity will not take power from the voting public.
Fort Erie has suffered what Canadian Niagara Power calls a “townwide outage” due to the loss of the feed from Hydro One. The local utility has yet to project an estimate time of restoration, saying it is “TBD,” or to be determined.
The outage comes while Fort Erie residents, as is the case in every Ontario communityy, are going to the polls to elect their municipal representatives. The Town of Fort Erie said at 2:38 p.m. that it is activating the backup plan made for such a bad-case scenario. Measures to provide polling stations with enough juice so that people can vote would be in place within a half-hour.
“A contingency plan is in place to provide emergency power to polling stations and we aim to have these measures in place within the next 20-30 minutes,” the Twitter post by @TownOfFortErie reads.
We are experiencing a widespread power outage in Fort Erie. We have been in contact with Canadian Niagara Power. A contingency plan is in place to provide emergency power to polling stations and we aim to have these measures in place within the next 20-30 minutes. pic.twitter.com/rpksU7fbii
— townofforterie (@TownOfFortErie) October 24, 2022
Town wide outage affecting @TownOfFortErie customers due to primary feed from Hydro One. Crews have been deployed. Estimated time of restoration TBD #pwrout.
— CanadianNiagaraPower (@CNPpower) October 24, 2022
Fort Erie has seven polling stations, with Ward 6 having two. Polls are to remain open until 8 p.m. tonight.
For anyone in need of a refresher, here are the locations:
- Ward 1: Central Fire Station,(444 Central Ave.)
- Ward 2: Royal Canadian Legion Branch 71 (130 Garrsion Rd.)
- Ward 3: Leisureplex Banquet Hall (3 Municipal Centre Dr.)
- Ward 4: Fire Station 4 (148 Ridge Rd. S.)
- Ward 5: Crystal Ridge Comunity Centre (99 Ridge Rd. S)
- Ward 6: Stevensville Memorial Hall (2508 Stevensville Rd.); Faith Reformed Church (3605 Black Creek Rd.)