Ottawa: An explosion at a Toronto power
facility has plunged Canada's largest metropolis into
darkness, and disrupted a state dinner for Queen Elizabeth II,
local media reported on Tuesday.
The blackout hit at about 5:30 local time (2130 GMT),
affecting the city's subway, several commuter trains and
traffic lights at the height of the evening rush hour, said
public broadcaster CBC.
Some 250,000 people were also without electricity amid
an extreme heat alert, it said. Temperatures in the city hit
34 degrees Celsius.
The queen, at the end of a nine-day trip to Canada
with her husband, Prince Philip, was to attend a state dinner
hosted by Prime Minister Stephen Harper at the Royal York
Hotel in downtown Toronto, but the hotel was without power.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, July 06, 2010, 10:14