Crews working to restore power to nearly 18,000 Alectra customers, many others still blacked out

CTV's Sarah Plowman speaks with Hydro One's Tiziana Baccega Rosa about their ongoing power restoration efforts in response to this past weekend's ice storm.

Alectra, the utility supplier for Barrie, Penetanguishene and Richmond Hill, announced their efforts to restore electricity for many who have been left in the dark by this weekend’s ice storm.

In a Sunday news release, Alectra stated that powerline crews will continue working into the night to restore electricity for nearly 18,000 customers without power in the three communities.

That amount, Alectra adds, would be a reduction from the more than 44,000 customers who were without power at the height of the storm early Sunday morning.

However, many customers could still be without power into Monday morning.

The storm aftermath was arguably worse in Orillia, as it was the first city mentioned by a Hydro One spokesperson when she was asked by CTV News about the areas that were most impacted.

“In terms of the damage that we’re seeing, our crews are facing challenges such as the buildup on ice on equipment when they’re going to make repairs. But even before they can get to site, there are road closures, there are trees littering streets that need to get cleaned up before they can even get through,” said Tiziana Baccega Rosa, senior media relations advisor with Hydro One. “The buildup of ice is causing trees and branches to come down, not just on equipment, but we’ve seen them on vehicles. We’ve heard close calls that had crews driving past and a branch has fallen right behind them. So it’s incredibly dangerous outside right now.”

Baccega Rosa says 257,000 Hydro One customers got their power back since the beginning of the storm and that amount continues to increase with each hour. But many could still be blacked out for prolonged periods of time.

“We anticipate, given the scale and impact of this storm, that it will take several days to get every last customer restored,” added Baccega Rosa.

Widespread blackouts also persisted for residents in Innisfil, Midland, Gravenhurst and Bracebridge according to Inn Power, NT Power, Elexicon Energy and Lakeland Power outage maps, respectively.

Authorities advise residents to stay at least ten metres away from downed power lines.

Those experiencing outages are advised to keep their refrigerators and freezers closed as much as possible to prevent cold air from escaping.