Power restored to most of Haines Junction, Yukon, after hours-long outage at -40 C

Power has been restored to most of Haines Junction after a problem earlier on Monday at the local generating station.

The power went off on Monday morning following an exhaust leak at the station, ATCO Electric Yukon said in a statement late Monday afternoon. The temperature in the community was below –40 C, and the leak "prevented the facility from operating efficiently," according to the company.

ATCO crews shut down the station to assess the problem, leading to a full outage.

"While attempting to tie into Yukon Energy’s system to support the load during this outage, the incoming energy flow overloaded a breaker at the Aishihik dam. This resulted in a full power outage to the community," the statement read.  

In an update just before 6 p.m. on Monday, ATCO manager Tony Badry said that the generating station was again up and running, and that power had been restored to 80 per cent of customers in Haines Junction. He expected the rest to see the power come on "within the next two hours."

The company had earlier asked people in the community to limit electricity use, especially right after power is restored, to reduce the system load.

Haines Junction resident Kari Johnston says she saw a huge plume of black smoke rising over the generating station as she drove into town around 11:40 a.m.

When she got back home, she immediately started preparing in case of a prolonged outage.

“You know, grabbing all the candles, finding headlamps, picking things off the floor so I won’t trip in the dark,” said Johnston.

She says her husband also went out to check on neighbours.

The St. Elias Convention Centre is open as a warming centre during the outage. The Champagne and Aishihik First Nations are also offering emergency transport to the warming centre to anyone who needs it. People can call 867-335-3733 for a ride.