‘They made the impossible, possible’ One year later, Orillia reflects on devastating ice storm

A tree falls on the street in front of a house during the 2025 ice storm. Fri., March 27, 2026. PHOTO: CTV NEWS BARRIE

As Hydro One celebrates the opening of its new facility in Orillia, it comes as nearly one year to the day that Simcoe County and Muskoka were hit by a major ice storm.

Megan Telford, CEO of Hydro One said this is the third Hydro One building located in Orillia.

“We have forestry, we have distribution, we have a warehouse, and when you think about that, those teams need to work together to really get to our customers as quickly as possible,” said Telford.

According to Hydro One, the ice storm impacted more than 600,000 people across the province.

Many were without power for several days, residents in Orillia and surrounding communities relying on their own in a time of need.

MPP for Simcoe North Jill Dunlop, also the minister responsible for emergency preparedness and response, was one of many politicians on the ground last year doing what they can to assist.

She said the community came together in a time of need.

“What you really see is communities coming together, neighbors helping neighbors when they’re safe and protected, they’re reaching out to help one another,” said Dunlop.

4,500 Hydro One team members and 30 local distribution companies worked day and night to fix more than 6,000 broken poles and cross-arms to restore power to the area.

An effort not forgotten by Orillia’s mayor Don McIsaac.

“We were going through a very dark time in the city of 36,000 people, no power at all and Hydro One, Minister Dunlop came when we were in need and they walked us through the deepest, darkest part of the storm,” said McIsaac. “And the other side of it, they made the impossible, possible.”

With the mayor adding that cleanup is almost done.

“Cleanup is largely done, we are restoring the tree canopy with a budget $500,000 for trees,” said McIsaac. “That’s not enough. We’ll need to do more, we need that as a start.”

Hydro One taking the lessons learned from a year ago and committing to restoring power efficiently in the area.

“Everything you need to do requires electricity and so really, we are mainly focused on restoring power as quickly as possible so that people can get on with their lives,” said Telford.

Hydro One employs approximately 250 people in the Orillia region.