Toronto, the jewel of Canada.
Maybe this is an “In the News” category or a “Lessons Learned”
Recent storms in Toronto broke the one day rainfall record there. Previously held by 1954 Hurricane Hazel at 121mm, the storms on Monday 08 July 2013 dropped 126mm of water. Flooding roadways and overwhelmed storm drains are one issue, but the real problems that arouse involved the power grid. Two major hydro power transmission and distribution centres were knocked offline due to the storm, which left hundreds of thousands of Torontonians experiencing rolling blackouts or even completely without power.
The real story here is the degraded electrical infrastructure in Toronto.
Disasters and major events could cause failures to the transmission system and lead to voltage instabilities or problems with electrical supply. In this instance, the two transformer facilities were completely flooded out.
There is more than enough electricity generated in Ontario to feed the hunger of the city. However, bringing that power to the city, then distributing it is problem.
A report referenced in the story shows that power generation within the Toronto region has declined rapidly since 1985.
This means that our nation’s largest city is completely dependent on the rest of the provence for its power generation needs.
With so many people not assuming responsibility for themselves and building up their own backup power capabilities, events like this will continue to occur. A smart residential generator salesman would be capitalizing on this.
Read the full Global News article here: Toronto Power Supply Vulnerable
Though Toronto is unlikely to be a hotspot for people interested in self sufficiency, it is likely that events such as this will prompt some residents to realize that they are responsible for their own well being. If this is you and you are beginning to explore self reliance: Bravo and Welcome!
If you are reading this, please consider getting an inverter for your car that could power some of your 120V items at home. A standalone generator would be a follow up step after that.
Perhaps this is just another story show how government has no place being involved with highly technical corporations.
The leaders are voted in and out all the time. Priority is given to short term results, not building long-term infrastructure.