Power back on in downtown Toronto

An electricity outageaffected thousands of customers in the eastern part of Toronto's downtown before power was restored early Friday morning.

Toronto Hydroreported thatthe outagewas bounded by CarltonStreet to the north, Queen's Quay to the south, York Street to the west andBayview Avenue to the east.

Hydro spokeswoman Jennifer Link said about6,500customers were affected by the outage, which began at about 8:15 p.m. Thursday.

Power was restored for all of the affected customers following several hours of repairs, according to a Twitter post from the utility shortly after 4 a.m.

Toronto fire officials at the scene said that a piece of equipment overheated in an electrical substation at George and Adelaide streets.

Fire crews hadtoclearthe building of smoke beforeToronto Hydrocouldassess the damage.

The outage comesas the heat and humidity are forecast to be extremely high on Friday, with the humidex approaching 50 C.

"Equipment fails from time to time," said Tanya Bruckmueller, another Toronto Hydro spokeswoman.

"It happens, but specificallyin times where there's sustainedheat waves like we've had over the last three days, equipment doesn'thave the opportunity tocool down and it is susceptible to failure."

St. Michael's Hospitalwas among the affected buildings. Toronto police said Thursday the hospitalran on emergency generators and did not move any patients.