Electricity has been restored Thursday morning for 220 residents following a three-day outage at a CityHousing Hamilton building.
The power at a city-subsidized high-rise at 801 Upper Gage Ave. has been out since Sunday evening.
“All my food in my fridge is spoiled. I have a deep freezer. I’ve spent all my money that I’ve got from the government to fill it so that I wouldn’t have to worry about the high cost of food,” one resident said Wednesday.
“I’ve got about $1,000 worth of meat in the freezer right now, and I don’t have any idea if it’s going to be able to be salvaged. I may have to throw it all out and that’s going to leave me really in need.”
Leanne Ward, manager of operations at CityHousing Hamilton, said 120 units were affected at the height of the power outage.
While the cause of the outage is currently unknown, Ward said wires supplying the electrical panel overheated creating the risk of a fire.
She said supply chain issues have led to a delay in receiving the parts required to repair the electrical problem.
Coun. Tom Jackson, whose ward surrounds the building, said millions of dollars has been spent on upgrades for the building recently.
Both Jackson and residents in the building said a permanent solution is needed for these recurrent electrical issues.
“What I’m going to be asking of upper management after today’s matters are fixed and everything is reopened and the lives of the 220 seniors can get back to normal, hopefully by tonight. I’m going to be asking for a full debriefing, options going forward,” Jackson said.
Ward said a team had been doing wellness checks on residents and distributing $50-grocery vouchers to affected tenants.
Tracy Murphy, manager of tenant administration at CityHousing Hamilton, said power was restored for the entire building around 1 a.m. Thursday.
Murphy could not confirm whether the electricity is expected to remain on, but said more information will be released soon.
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