Thousands without power in eastern Ontario due to freezing rain

While Ottawa avoided major power outages, many parts of eastern Ontario are without power on Sunday after an ice storm moved through the region on Sunday.

About 35,000 customers in eastern Ontario remain without power Sunday as freezing rainfall continues to fall across the region.

According to Hydro One, 257,000 customers province-wide have had their power restored since losing it overnight Saturday, and crews continue to work quickly to restore it for the rest of those affected.

More than 335,000 customers remain without power across Ontario as of Sunday afternoon. The utility expects it will take several days before everyone has power again.

“There is another weather system coming behind it that is expected to hit different parts of eastern Ontario. So we do anticipate outages will continue to occur, over the course of the next 24 hours,” said Tiziana Baccega Rosa, a Hydro One spokesperson.

“Given that it’s been several weather systems, crews have been making repairs, but unfortunately, the outages are ongoing and we do anticipate at this time it will take several days for us to restore power to all customers that are affected.”

Utilities Kingston is reporting about 500 customers without power in the city. Along the 1000 Islands Parkway - just west of Brockville - about 215 customers are powerless.

Hydro Ottawa is reporting no major outages.

Hydro One is reporting ongoing hazards as the weather system moves through the region on Sunday, such as falling trees, which has made it dangerous for crews repairing power lines.

“The challenges our crews are currently facing is that there are ongoing, hazardous conditions,” she said.

“There are reports that trees are just coming down and narrowly missing crews as they’re driving by. We’ve seen images of trees coming down on cars. It is incredibly dangerous out there.”

A freezing rain warning remains in place, with 5 to 10 mm of ice accretion expected to fall across the region. Conditions are expected to turn to rain on Monday.

For information about outages, visit the Hydro One outage map.

More details to come