Over 390,000 without power across Ontario, ‘several days’ before service restored

Hydro One says it will take “several days” to fully restore power to all customers after freezing rain coated parts of central and eastern Ontario in thick layers of ice, downing branches and power lines.

As of 10 a.m. Monday, the provincial utility’s outage map reported over 3,000 outages affecting over 390,000 customers.

“Crews are out in full force, working alongside our contractors through challenging conditions to restore power to customers,” Hydro One said in a statement on its website. “Outages continue to be caused by tree limbs and branches being weighed down from the accumulation of freezing rain. A second round of freezing rain is expected and may continue to impact power lines and road conditions.”

Hydro One says it is prioritizing restoration to bring power back to the greatest number of customers in the shortest period of time. They have already restored power to more than 532,000 customers since the start of the storm. 

“At this time, we anticipate it will take several days to restore all customers.”

Some residents said they couldn’t imagine the lights coming back any time soon.

“At the very end of our driveway, we had a hydro pole completely ripped in half because trees went down and took the wires down,” said Janelle Baker, who lives outside of Bracebridge, Ont., and lost power early Saturday morning.

“Our driveway and our road are completely impassable at this point.”

Baker said she spent Saturday night listening to the sounds of trees crashing down.

“It’s just this intense creaking, and then falling,” she said. “It’s very eerie, almost. You can kind of hear it because we’re out by the water, too, so the ones coming down over the water were very loud.”

When she went outside on Sunday morning, she described the sight as “carnage,” as though a tornado had blown through.

“I’m originally from Nova Scotia, so I’ve seen a lot of pretty crazy weather events, but I’ve never seen anything like this ever before,” she said.

Kelly O’Loan in Barrie, Ont., was among those who got electricity back, but not before she spent hours manually bailing out her sump pump by candlelight.

“It was a very scary and treacherous night because you could hear the ice against the windows, and any time the wind blew just a little bit, you would hear things move and you’re just praying that the trees don’t fall,” she said.

The City of Peterborough, Orillia, District of Muskoka and the Township of Brock all declared a state of emergency on Sunday in response to a freezing rainstorm that downed trees and cut off power for tens of thousands of people. Officials say recovery efforts are expected to take at least several days.

OPP say there are currently 34 reported road closures and cellular service with two major providers remains intermittent. Emergency cell service is still operational.

Video posted to social media described the scene in Orilla as a “war zone”

“The worst of the ice storm has hit Muskoka, leaving behind widespread damage from heavy ice accumulation on trees and utility lines,” read a statement posted on social media.

“Many District roads are closed or down to one lane due to fallen trees and hydro lines, and the risk of new hazards remains high. Our emergency crews are encountering actively falling trees and power lines across the district. If you travel, you risk becoming stranded with no access to emergency services.”

The City of Barrie also declared a Significant Weather Event, and they are encouraging residents to stay off the roads.

Alectra Utilities says it is bringing in additional forestry crews to clear downed tree limbs from around the damaged powerlines as they deal with “challenging and hazardous conditions.” Crews say they plan to continue restoration efforts overnight Sunday to restore service to approximately 18,000 customers in Barrie, Penetanguishene and Richmond Hill.

“Unfortunately, due to the severity of the damage from ice accretion across Alectra’s service territory, and significant tree damage in downtown Barrie that is complicating restoration, some customers will be without power overnight and into Monday morning.

Provincial police urged people to stay off the roads if possible, saying the melting ice had led to wet, slippery roads and localized flooding.

“If you’re travelling north, expect delays and detours. There’s closures and detours on Highway 11 north of Barrie because of downed power lines and fallen trees,” said Sgt. Kerry Schmidt.

Police shared photos of power lines hanging low, pulled down by the weight of the ice that coated them.

In Georgian Bluffs, Ont., along the Georgian Bay, provincial police said a tree fell onto the road and landed on live hydro wires on Saturday night, starting a fire.

A news release from the force’s central division early Sunday said there had been additional calls for service because of the weather, including injuries caused by falling trees.