Over 10K Kingston area residents experience power outage amid oppressive heat

With temperatures not dipping below 20 C overnight from Monday, Sept. 4, 2023, into Tuesday morning, over 10,000 residents in the Kingston area worried about the temperatures to come in the day, as their power – and air conditioning – went out on Tuesday morning.

At approximately 7:50 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2023 – the first day of school for many area students – 3,392 Utilities Kingston and Kingston Hydro customers lost power in a “momentary outage,” paired with 3,572 customers in one area and 10,528 in another who lost power at the same time, which was not restored until just before noon. These outages, as well as two others affecting a combined 137 customers, affected those in much of the downtown area of Kingston, as well as the city’s north and east ends. Those two other outages remained active at time of publication.

Meanwhile, HydroOne customers experienced some outages, as well, with 88 customers without power at time of publication.

In response to Kingstonist inquiries, Utilities Kingston explained that “the outage experienced by Kingston Hydro customers this morning was caused by [HydroOne] losing a feeder to the Frontenac Transmission Facility located at John Counter Boulevard and Division Street.”

“Approximately 14,000 customers were affected [including] the areas of Barriefield Village, RMC and parts of CFB Kingston, and the area north of Princess Street, east of Sir John A Macdonald Boulevard,” Utilities Kingston shared of the Kingston Hydro outage. Utilities Kingston also noted that “many residents living east of the Cataraqui River” who are served by HydroOne were also affected in the outage.

Kingstonist reached out to HydroOne, but no response was received by time of publication.

Residents can view current and past Utilities Kingston and Kingston Hydro outages on the outage map provided on the Utilities Kingston website. HydroOne outages can be viewed on that company’s power outage map on the HydroOne website.

The heatwave, which has left many depending on air conditioning as temperatures spike to around 36 C with the humidex factor, is expected to continue through Thursday, according to Environment Canada, which has issued a heat warning for the Kingston area.

“A hot and humid airmass is expected through Thursday. Daytime highs are expected to be 31 to 34 degrees Celsius. The hottest days look to be today and Wednesday. Overnight lows are expected to be 18 to 21 degrees Celsius bringing little relief from the heat. Humidex values and daytime highs will be very atypical of early September,” Environment Canada said in the warning, issued at 4:48 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2023.

The national weather agency, which expects the heat to break on Thursday, Sept. 7, 2023, advised that the elderly, young children, and those with underlying medical conditions can be most affected by the extreme heat.

For a list of cool-down locations in Kingston, please see the Kingstonist cool-down locations for summer 2023 article.