From the February 28, 2001 Edition
From the February 28, 2001 Edition
High winds, ice knock out power
By Express Staff
Business came to an abrupt halt in Meaford Monday afternoon
after ice and strong winds played havoc with power lines.
The lights went out in Meaford at about 12:30 p.m. for the second time in a 12 hour span. The first blackout occurred at 1:25 a.m. when ice and high winds combined to snap an insulator on a 44,000 volt line along Grey County Road 7, about eight km south of Griersville.
The blackout left about 4,500 Hydro One customers in the dark, as well as the town of Meaford. The first outage, which affected parts of The Blue Mountains, Grey Highlands, and Georgian Highlands, lasted for five hours and had some residents scrambling to bail out their sump pumps.
The same line went out again just after lunch on Monday for three hours. Not only were businesses left in the dark, but the traffic lights on Highway 26 were out of commission.
The wild weather saw freezing temperatures and snow on Friday, high winds on Saturday followed by freezing rain and rain Saturday evening. On Sunday, the temperature climbed to a warm plus 10C, but again high winds blew in more cold by Sunday night.
