Hundreds of area residents were left without power earlier this morning and are now dealing with water issues.
Entergus reported an outage affecting Wallaceburg and Dresden following an issue on the Hydro One grid.
Most customers had their power restored within half an hour, however, officials with the PUC say the power outage also played a role in a watermain break on Baseline Road in Wallaceburg. Crews are working to fix the issue, although it could take several hours to repair.
In the meantime, due to the watermain break, Chatham-Kent Public Health has issued a boil water advisory for all consumers of the Wallaceburg Distribution System on the Chatham-Kent Municipal water supply.
Affected residents are advised to bring their water to a rolling boil for at least one minute before domestic use, such as drinking, washing foods, brushing teeth, or making formula.
The advisory will remain in place until CK Public Health receives two positive results from samples taken 24 hours apart.
Students from A. A. Wright Public School, H.W. Burgess Public School, and Wallaceburg District Secondary School are also being sent home from school due to the watermain break.
Officials from the St Clair Catholic District School Board say parents/guardians of students at Holy Family, Christ the King and St. Elizabeth Catholic schools are encouraged to pick up children at the earliest opportunity.
“Students who remain at school will be dismissed at the usual time; and bus students will be transported home as usual at the end of the day,” the statement reads. “In the meantime, students are well and safe at school. Facility Services has provided bottled water to all students and staff and hand sanitizer has been deployed throughout the building; however, there is no ability to flush washroom toilets.”