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Wind knocks out power around the Yukon

High winds on Oct. 26 knocked out power to Faro, parts of Whitehorse and beyond
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Fallen trees due to strong winds are seen leaning on to power lines which caused some power outages around the territory on Oct. 26. (Courtesy of ATCO)

High winds in the territory on Oct. 26 knocked out power to many Yukoners.

Stephanie Cunha, spokesperson for Yukon Energy, said in an Oct. 27 email that crews were continuing to remove trees from the transmission line between Whitehorse and Faro that fell due to the winds.

“At the onset of the outage, approximately 1,900 Yukon Energy customers in 10 communities were without power,” Cunha wrote.

“Within 30 minutes, Yukon Energy had power restored to more than 90 per cent of its customers affected by the original outage.”

In Faro, power to the 368 customers there was restored at 3:12 p.m., using diesel generation.

Meanwhile, the 1,390 customers in Dawson saw their power back on at 3:24 p.m. using hydro from Mayo.

Then at 7:30 p.m., power was restored to 12 customers in Judas Creek with Yukon Energy crews continuing to work to restore power elsewhere.

By 9:30 a.m. Oct. 27, 66 customers in Mendenhall were back on the grid while crews continued to work on removing trees from the line and getting power back to the 24 remaining customers in Drury Creek, Little Fox, Little Salmon and McGundy Creek who were still without power. Power was restored to those areas by 2:40 p.m.

“Yukon Energy wishes to thank all Yukoners for their understanding and support as we’ve worked to restore power to our customers,” Cunha said, adding that the situation shows extended power outages “happen from time-to-time”.

Contact Stephanie Waddell at stephanie.waddell@yukon-news.com



Stephanie Waddell

About the Author: Stephanie Waddell

I joined Black Press in 2019 as a reporter for the Yukon News, becoming editor in February 2023.
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