Home PSEPC Daily Brief DOB06-025

Daily Brief

The PSEPC Daily Brief is a compilation of summaries of publicly available and PSEPC information concerning critical infrastructure protection and emergency management.

DOB06-025 - 6 February 2006

News

Thousands without power in central Ontario
On February 5, an estimated 100,000 residences in central Ontario were without power after a strong wind storm and heavy snow on February 4 knocked out services. The provincial utility, Hydro One, indicated that power had been restored to approximately half the customers by late evening but warned that service in some areas might not be restored until February 6.

Owen Sound, Parry Sound, Penetanguishene and London are among the main outage areas in Ontario. Hydro One officials stated that strong winds were hindering efforts to restore power to the Bruce Peninsula and around Georgian Bay.
(Source: cbc.ca, 5 February 2006)
Source article

PSEPC Geomatics provides a map (1,790 kb)  of the affected areas. 

Hydro One is the largest electricity delivery company for Ontario.

Local state of emergency declared for Delta, B.C.
On February 4, the mayor of Delta, B.C., declared a local state of emergency following a heavy wind storm that swept through southern B.C. The storm caused power outages to thousands of homes. Heavy flooding also caused the evacuation of approximately 200 residences in the Tsawwassen area of Delta.

B.C. Hydro estimated that up to 100,000 people were without power earlier in the day, and that approximately 5,000 homes and businesses were still without power on the morning of February 5.

As of February 6, crews are continuing with clean-up and restoration operations.

The storm also disrupted ferry service to Vancouver Island , where major power outages were reported. B.C. Ferries expected service to be restored by late evening February 4.
(Source: GLOBEANDMAIL.COM, 5 February 2006, cbc.ca, 6 February 2006)
Source article
Source article

PSEPC Geomatics provides a map (336 kb) of the affected areas. 

The main electrical power supplier for B.C. is B.C. Hydro.

The primary provider of coastal ferry service in B.C. is B.C. Ferries .

In brief

Crashed Sea King missing its blades
Further to PSEPC Daily Brief DOB06-024, on February 5, officials aboard the HMS Athabasca indicated that the Sea King helicopter that crashed in the sea off the coast of Denmark is missing its rotor blades.

The helicopter is being examined by investigators from the military's flight safety directorate, who are tasked with reviewing the aircraft's maintenance records and interviewing crewmembers and witnesses.

Officials stated that it was still too early to identify the cause of the crash.
(Source: CTV.ca, 6 February 2006)
Source article

Cyber risk assessment

Over the course of the past 72 hours, the Canadian Cyber Incident Response Centre (CCIRC) has not detected any significant new threats or vulnerabilities. No significant incidents with the potential to affect critical infrastructure have been reported. Accordingly, based on the information available to CCIRC, the cyber risk facing Canadian critical infrastructure is assessed as low. Personnel responsible for information, systems and network security should continue to apply appropriate security precautions and monitor their systems.

Recent cyber alerts and advisories issued by CCIRC can be viewed under “Recent analytical releases” at www.psepc.gc.ca/ccric.

See also...

• The Weather Office
• FAC - Travel Updates

Note to readers

Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada (PSEPC) collects information related to cyber and physical threats to, and incidents involving, Canadian critical infrastructure. This allows us to monitor and analyze threats and to issue alerts, advisories and other information products.

Any suspected criminal activity should be reported to local law enforcement organizations. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) National Operations Centre (NOC) provides a 24/7 service to receive such reports or to redirect callers to local law enforcement organizations. The NOC can be reached at (613) 993-4460. National security concerns should be reported to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) at (613) 993-9620.

Links to sites not under the control of the Government of Canada (GoC) are provided solely for the convenience of users. The GoC is not responsible for the accuracy, currency or the reliability of the content. The GoC does not offer any guarantee in that regard and is not responsible for the information found through these links, nor does it endorse the sites and their content.

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