Hun­dreds of res­i­dents in Corinth Hills, Ste Madeleine, were left with­out elec­tric­i­ty yes­ter­day morn­ing af­ter van­dals cut util­i­ty ca­bles, forc­ing house­holds to cope with heat, dis­rupt­ed rou­tines and the risk of food spoilage for hours.

The in­ci­dent adds to a grow­ing num­ber of ca­ble van­dal­ism cas­es af­fect­ing com­mu­ni­ties across the coun­try, rais­ing con­cerns about whether in­fra­struc­ture in res­i­den­tial de­vel­op­ments is be­ing de­lib­er­ate­ly tar­get­ed.

Res­i­dent Aaron Ram­sun­dar said there was a brief pow­er out­age dur­ing the night, though it last­ed on­ly a few sec­onds. Around 5.30 am, how­ev­er, he heard a loud boom be­fore the elec­tric­i­ty went off for about 30 min­utes.