Around 10,000 people in downtown Toronto were left without power after a major outage that blacked out a huge swathe of the Canadian city.

Hydro One, which supplies electricity to the city’s surrounding province of Ontario, said on Thursday that it had put “all hands on deck” to discover the cause of the fault.

A spokesperson told CBC News that the company is investigating reports that the outage was caused by a construction crane touching an overhead power cable while being carried on a barge.

A video posted on Twitter on Thursday showed a tall crane on a barge coming into contact with power lines stretched across a channel of water on Toronto’s lakefront, causing sparks and a loud thump.

The company later posted images of the same scene, with the crane still floating on its transport near the affected power line. However, a spokesperson said it was not yet clear whether that incident was the only cause.

“We know this has made today exceptionally difficult for many of you, and we appreciate your patience. We will continue to share more information as it becomes available,” Hydro One said.

Other photos showed shops and restaurants closed due to lack of power, while Canada’s immigration minister Sean Fraser said he was trapped in a stalled elevator.

Hydro One added that some traffic lights might also be affected. Toronto Hydro, another utility company, showed a huge chunk of towntown Toronto blacked out on its outage map, with power expected to be restored around 7pm local time.

Many shops lost power to their payment machines, meaning they could not accept debit or credit cards, while food vendors were unable to use their fridges and other equipment dead.

“When power goes out, every system we have shuts down,” shop employee Wynee Gee told the Toronto-based Financial Post. ”Every single aspect of this job requires power, requires electricity. It’s very eye-opening.”

She added that there was “no way” her team would hit their daily sales target, which could lead to them receiving a lower monthly bonus. “When we have technological issues, or in this case electricity issues… it really hurts us. It’s money that we can’t make,” she said.

As of Thursday evening, power to some Hydro One customers had been restored but thousands more remained in the dark.

A spokesperson told CP24: “We don’t have an estimated time of restoration to provide. We know it is the one piece of information that everyone wants, and at the moment we are in a position to provide that, we will.”

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