Vehicle collisions cause major power outages in Australia and Canada

Separate vehicle collisions have caused significant power outages in Australia and Canada.

In north-west Victoria, Australia, a car collided with a power pole in Merbein near Mildura on Monday morning. Powercor reported that the accident caused a complex high-voltage injection fault, leaving more than 2,700 residential and commercial properties without electricity. Due to the complexity of the fault, technicians must inspect individual customer switchboards to ensure safety before restoring power, with full restoration estimated for Wednesday afternoon.

In British Columbia, Canada, a vehicle crash on Sunday afternoon knocked out power for more than 1,200 customers north of Vaseux Lake near Oliver. FortisBC reported that power was successfully restored to the majority of these customers by Sunday afternoon, though a smaller group of approximately 122 customers near the southern area of Vaseux Lake remained without electricity as the cause of their specific outage was unclear.