A major power outage swept across Toronto’s east side on Saturday night, leaving more than 13,500 customers without electricity and knocking out subway service across a long stretch of Line 2 Bloor-Danforth. What began as an outage affecting thousands quickly escalated into a wider disruption across the east end, with homes going dark in beachside streets, parts of East York, and several neighbourhoods stretching into southwest Scarborough.
The outage started shortly after 8 p.m. on March 7, 2026, according to Toronto Hydro, and spread across multiple communities in the city’s east end. Early reports suggested that at least 5,000 households were affected, but the number later climbed sharply as utility crews assessed the scale of the problem. Updated outage figures showed 13,545 hydro customers without power as the disruption widened across residential and transit corridors.
Quick update: The outage affected a large stretch of Toronto’s east end, hit more than 13,500 customers, and suspended subway service on Line 2 between Broadview and Kennedy stations, with shuttle buses brought in during the disruption.
Neighbourhoods across east Toronto hit by the blackout
The outage covered a broad section of the city and impacted neighbourhoods including The Beach, Upper Beach, Leslieville, Taylor-Massey, Woodbine Gardens, Oakridge, Birchmount Park, Scarborough Junction, and parts of Crescent Town and the Danforth. Residents in these areas reported dark homes, darkened street stretches, and sudden service loss on a busy Saturday evening.
Toronto Hydro’s outage map showed the affected zone stretching roughly from Greenwood Avenue in the west, along Queen Street East and Danforth Road to the south, extending north of Danforth Avenue and St. Clair Avenue, and reaching past Brimley Road to the east. The sheer size of the outage meant it touched several densely populated neighbourhoods at once, turning what first appeared to be a localized problem into one of the bigger east-end disruptions of the night.
Transit service also disrupted as Line 2 shuts down
The power failure was not limited to homes and businesses. It also spilled into Toronto’s transit network, forcing the TTC to suspend subway operations on a large portion of Line 2 Bloor-Danforth. Service was shut down east of the Don Valley, affecting a 10-station stretch from Broadview to Kennedy while crews responded to the hydro disruption.
To keep passengers moving, the TTC brought in shuttle buses to operate between the affected stations. Even with bus replacements, the outage added to delays and frustration for riders trying to cross the east side of the city on a weekend night. The combination of residential outages and major transit disruption made the blackout especially visible across the east end.
Toronto Hydro says crews were on-site
Toronto Hydro said it was aware of the outage and confirmed that crews were working to collect details and respond. Repair teams were dispatched to the affected area as the utility worked to narrow down the cause and restore service. At the time of the latest updates, the exact reason for the blackout had not been immediately confirmed.
That uncertainty left many residents waiting in the dark for more clarity while crews continued work across the east side. In outages of this size, the underlying issue can range from equipment failures to infrastructure faults, but officials had not publicly identified a specific cause during the initial response window.
Power restoration target set for early Sunday
Toronto Hydro indicated that service was expected to be restored around 1 a.m. Sunday, offering a rough timeline for customers affected by the outage. For households across the Beach, East York, Oakridge, Birchmount Park, and nearby communities, that estimate became the main point of focus as temperatures dropped and residents waited for electricity to return.
The outage also highlighted how closely linked Toronto’s power grid and public transit network are. Once the hydro failure spread across the east side, the impact moved beyond homes into subway operations, multiplying the disruption across daily life in the city. A Saturday evening outage in a residential area quickly became a region-wide east-end transportation problem.
For many residents, the most striking images came from darkened blocks in the Beach neighbourhood and surrounding areas, where normally active residential streets were left without light while utility teams worked through the night. With subway service cut on a major corridor and more than 13,500 customers affected, the outage became one of the most significant east Toronto service disruptions of the evening.
Readers looking for the latest utility status can check the official Toronto Hydro outage map for restoration updates and service information.
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