Power outage stretches across rural southwest Ontario Wednesday ...

Hydro One says its crews are working to restore an outage affecting more than 15,000 customers in rural communities north of London. 

The outage began at around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday morning, said Tiziana Baccega Rosa, a representative from Hydro One. According to the company's outage map, it stretches from south of Grand Bend through Huron County to the edge of Strathroy, then through Perth County to Maplewood. 

High winds in the area are causing a phenomenon called galloping conductors, she said. 

"It is causing the transmission lines to move in a way if you think of a wave or or truly horses galloping and that is causing some of the interruption. We are continuing to investigate to ensure there's nothing else happening. However, this is an ongoing issue in the area," she said. 

The estimated time of restoration is 12:30 p.m., however that timeline depends on when winds die down. 

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.