Damaged insulators cut power to thousands

Four damaged insulators caused Sunday night’s massive power outage to all 12,000 customers on the Whitehorse-Faro-Aishihik electrical grid.

Yukon Energy spokeswoman Janet Patterson said this morning a cause for the 10:49 p.m. power outage couldn’t be found last night.

However, a flight over the line in the Takhini area of Whitehorse this morning found four insulators were damaged. Crews were sent out on the ground to look at them more closely.

With eight insulators in the area, it means half have been damaged.

“We are investigating what happened to these insulators,“ Patterson said.

The company hoped to comment further this afternoon after crews looked at the situation this morning.

Though staff couldn’t isolate the problem initially, they were able to restore it through the night.

Power to all customers was restored by 3:30 a.m.

Whitehorse was the first to be put back on due to the capital’s population, while one of the communities with a smaller population would have been last on line, Patterson said.

Aside from Whitehorse, the communities affected included Johnson’s Crossing, Teslin, Carcross, Carmacks, Faro, Haines Junction, Ross River and the smaller communities in between, Patterson said.

The outage meant NHL hockey fans had to wait until early this morning to learn the outcome of last night’s playoff game between the San Jose Sharks and Dallas Stars after the juice was knocked out during the third period of overtime play.

As Yukon Energy worked on restoring power, Yukon Electrical Co. Ltd. crews readied their equipment to deliver the energy, with the last customer having power restored by 3:30 a.m., Yukon Electrical’s Craig Steinbach said.

That meant many Yukoners woke up this morning to learn the Stars had taken the hockey game (and therefore the series) at nine minutes into the fourth period with a final score of 2-1.