Some Verdun streets have been in the dark for over a week.

Street lamps on Stephens, Rolland, Valiquette, Allard, Beurling and Monteith streets haven’t been working for 11 nights in a row and for 53 total days since last summer.

“Sometimes it on, sometimes it's off. You don't really know when it's going to happen,” said resident Charlie Rondeau.

Some residents are concerned about safety.

“What's going to happen when there is ice all over the sidewalk and someone falls? Is the city going to pay for their medical costs? It's very dangerous,” said resident Donna Kennedy.

City councillor Sterling Downey said the borough needs to take action quickly, before snow and ice makes crossing the streets more perilous.

“I assume that this is going to go on longer than days, this is going to go on for weeks and the problem is we’re going to need to put in some sort of temporary lighting system,” he said. “The most logical one would be solar-powered construction lights.”

In a letter to residents, the borough said new equipment that was installed has been short-circuiting older equipment buried under the street.

“We know we have a short circuit somewhere in the system, but we don't know where,” said Verdun Borough Mayor Jean-Francois Parenteau, saying the underground system makes it a difficult problem to find and fix. “It's like looking for a burned-out light in a Christmas set.”

The borough has brought in a private electric company to help track down the culprit.

No timeframe for fixing the problem has been given and the city is advising residents to keep their porchlights on in the meantime.

“We got a letter saying they're trying to fix it and it should not take a long time, so I just let them do their job,” said Rondeau.

A generator was considered, but the noise was a problem.

Kennedy said whatever the solution, it's not coming fast enough.

“They've got to figure something out. I don't know, there's got to be some way to get lights on the streets,” she said.