Officials revealed today that a knee-high flood at Bloor and Dufferin sub-stations, forced hydro workers to shut-off power, impacting about 100,000 people. The sub-stations, housing a transformer and electrical gear, take in high voltage power, which is then converted to lower voltage, to be used in homes and businesses.

According to City officials, possibly a mal-functioning sprinkler system caused plumbing inside the sub-station to burst, leading to the flooding. The exact cause for the flooding remains unknown, however, with the power is back on, an investigation for determining the cause of the flooding will be initiated.

Though, the initial suspicion rested on a city water-main break, it turns out there is no problem with the city's infrastructure, nor any with the city's water service. With nearly
6,000 km of water-mains, Toronto suffers from about 1,300 breaks every year, mostly during the colder weather.

An alarm raised due to the flood, resulted in an immediate power shut-down on the coldest day of the year, plunging a large swathe of Toronto 's densely populated west-end and north of the downtown core, into freezing darkness, prompting the city to open seven emergency shelters to help people keep warm.

Before repair work could begin at the sub-stations, the water had to pumped out and electrical equipment dried before it could be used again. Despite, crews working all night, power was restored to only about half the affected area at 9:30 a. m., since badly damaged equipment will need to be replaced or rebuilt.