About 44,000 Hydro One customers still without power in Ontario after ice storm

Cleanup and tree damage at the Sunnidale Park Arboretum in Barrie, Ont. nearly one week after an ice storm hit the region. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Drost

About 44,000 homes and businesses in Ontario were still without power on Monday, more than a week after an ice storm caused severe damage in central and eastern parts of the province.

Hydro One said in an update on Monday that the number of customers struggling with outages had dropped as 4,800 crew members made progress on electricity restoration.

“We are at the point in our restoration where each outage crew’s repair restores power to a small number of customers as they are now focused on the smaller power lines,” the utility said.

“There are approximately 44,000 customers without power from the ice storm. Of those, approximately 20,600 are secondary properties such as cottages and trailers.”

The hardest hit areas included Fenelon Falls and the rural areas surrounding Peterborough and Orillia.

The utility said the weather was favourable for power restoration and its helicopters and drones were back in the air to help survey the damage, but those good conditions could change by Monday evening.

“High winds and snow are expected this evening in areas affected by the ice storm,” it said. “This may slow restoration and cause new outages as loose trees/limbs may continue to come down.”

It said localized flooding could slow restoration if roads are affected, and severe damage continues to be discovered in new areas.

The utility said crews have identified more than 2,300 broken poles in hard-hit areas. It said workers have replaced 50 poles and rebuilt a section of the power system in the Minden area.

Hydro One said a section of Highway 400 near Barrie would be closed later on Monday so crews can safely string power lines across the roadway.

Also on the agenda: in the north Kawarthas, “our boats will take crews to remote areas to repair five broken poles spotted yesterday by our helicopters,” the utility said.

An online Hydro One outage map showed some properties wouldn’t get power back until May.

“Those would be water access only and island seasonal properties,” the utility said when asked about the longer timelines. “Those dates may change depending on weather conditions.”

More than a million Ontario homes and businesses have experienced outages since the March 30 ice storm and subsequent days of high winds and heavy rain.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 7, 2025.