Hydro One rebuilds main line connecting Carleton Place, Ont.

Hydro One says more than 10,000 customers in Carleton Place have had their power restored after crews repaired the main line powering the town.

More than 40 hydro poles that feed electricity to the city were downed by Saturday’s powerful derecho storm. Mayor Doug Black told CTV News on Tuesday it could be days before the entire community gets its power back.

Speaking to Newstalk 580 CFRA’s “Ottawa Now with Kristy Cameron”, Black said 80 per cent of the town had its power back Wednesday morning and more were reconnected by the afternoon.

“The normalcy is back, for sure,” he said, saying grocery stores, coffee shops and other businesses are getting back online. “We’re all back at the town hall.”

Hydro One said a team of 40 line maintainers from the eastern region used cranes, bucket trucks and off-road equipment to repair three kilometres of power line Tuesday night.

“Through this total team effort, what originally took us months to build in 1989, we were able to complete in days. We greatly appreciate our customers’ patience during this time,” Hydro One line maintainer Dave Phillips said in a news release.

Black said the town would be conducting a post mortem analysis of the storm response.

“There’s definitely lessons to be learnt. I think we’re going to have to look at more generation backup for our facilities and the cost that attracts,” he said.

Black said one of the most difficult things for him was not knowing when power was coming back and being unable to tell residents. He said, however, that he was very impressed with hydro crews.

“At one time, the rumour was Friday, so we’re way ahead of schedule from the initial feedback from the powers to be on this,” Black said.

More than 29,000 Hydro One customers remain without power in eastern Ontario. There are approximately 92,000 Hydro One customers who still need to be restored across the storm’s path from London to Ottawa.