More than 150,000 customers across Ontario were left without electricity on Tuesday after a severe storm ravaged the province, knocking down power lines and trees, forcing several schools to close and leaving significant damage behind.
The city of Uxbridge, east of Toronto, has declared a state of local emergency due to storm damage, with some buildings reduced to rubble and streets blocked by uprooted trees, downed power lines and telephone poles. broken.
“It’s been non-stop really,” said Uxbridge, Ont. Mayor Dave Barton. “We have had hydroelectric equipment on the ground 24 hours a day to reconnect. Right now we have about half of the city connected to energy.
“We had major communications issues … when you lose power, you lose your cell phone, you lose data.”
Trees “exploding” in the storm
Uxbridge resident Jim Reive said he was not too worried when he received the Environment Canada emergency alert on Saturday afternoon.
“I went in, I closed all the windows … It was a storm alert, it wasn’t for a tornado,” he said.
TARGET | Uxbridge resident’s house devastated by storm:
Uxbridge, Ontario, lends a hand to clean up after punishing the storm
CBC’s Katie Nicholson visited a historic home in Uxbridge, Ontario, which suffered a bruise during Saturday’s storm. He found the owner, Doug McMillan, grateful to the community and received the story about his beautiful home.
Reive went to see the storm from his back porch and started filming when he arrived, but he quickly realized it wasn’t just any average storm.
“Within seconds, I was heading for coverage,” Reive said. “Neighbors’ trees … seemed to be exploding.”
Reive’s back window was shattered and an 18-meter maple in his yard was torn down.
“At first I thought maybe it was just my tree that fell, and I went out to check on the neighbors and it was crazy out there because all the power lines were down … all the trees were on the road,” he said. Reive.
“I have never been so powerful and I have never had such a feeling [like] I have to move fast or I’ll get hurt or worse. “
Trees literally uprooted in the Uxbridge Heritage Zone speak of the strength of the winds. pic.twitter.com/KlXwV2D7xa
– @KatieNicholson
It could be days before some have energy
At least 10 people across Ontario have died as a result of Saturday’s storm, which generated winds of up to 132 km / h.
As of Tuesday morning, the equipment has restored electricity to about 480,000 customers. However, about 150,000 remain without electricity, said a spokesman for Hydro One, Ontario’s largest electricity service provider.
Teams have restored food to more than 479,000 customers, and as they progress, there are still major repairs to be made. With more than 1,400 broken poles and 1,000 km of downhill lines, recovering energy is an important task. Updates: pic.twitter.com/S9eLYLHYgO
– @HydroOne
In Uxbridge, about 27,000 customers still have no electricity, along with 31,000 in Peterborough and 9,000 in Newmarket.
“There’s still a lot of work to be done in this area to bring energy back to everyone,” said Tiziana Baccega Rosa of Hydro One.
“We keep telling customers that depending on where you are and the severity of the damage, it may still take a few more days before you have energy.”
Baccega Rosa said the “severe and destructive” damage seen in the province is concentrated in the pockets of central and eastern Ontario. The challenge for the crew remains to clean up the debris before the electricity can be restored.
Meanwhile, the number of hydraulic poles reported to be broken has grown significantly, with 1,400 broken poles on Tuesday morning, more than the previous day’s 800, according to Hydro One.
Toronto Hydro said crews were dealing with 110,000 outages on Saturday and that they have since restored power to more than 98 percent of customers. Approximately 1,700 Torontonians remain powerless until Tuesday.
“We are responding to a large number of localized interruptions [and] seeing a lot of damage from fallen trees, “the utility said in a tweet.
Teams continued to work overnight & we have now restored power to over 98% of our customers. We are responding to a large number of localized interruptions & seeing a lot of damage caused by fallen trees.
– @ TorontoHydro
In the early hours of Tuesday morning, Hydro Ottawa reported that about 74,000 customers were still without electricity.
Hydro Ottawa’s chief executive said Monday that its distribution system had been “crushed”, noting that the 187 poles demolished during the storm not only exceeded the number traditionally poured into the city in a year, but also they also surpass the number dropped during the ice storm of 1998 and 2018. tornado.
The lack of electricity caused the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board to close all schools and kindergartens on Tuesday due to safety issues posed by the storm, and said in a warning to parents that about half of their schools were without electricity.
Schools in the Durham, Toronto area have been forced to close
Several schools in the Durham and Toronto area were also forced to close students and staff on Tuesday due to power outages.
The Durham District School Board (DDSB) says seven schools will not be open: Uxbridge Secondary School, Uxbridge Public School, Joseph Gould Public School in Uxbridge, Goodwood Public School in Uxbridge, Lincoln Avenue Public School in Ajax, EA Fairman Public School at Whitby, and Pickering Valley View Public School.
There will be no e-learning for students at these schools, as many students may still be without electricity, the school board said.
“The decision to close these schools has been made to protect the health and safety of students, parents / guardians and staff, as electricity is needed to safely operate a school,” the board said in a statement on Monday.
A tree crashes into a house and a roof near Toronto’s Little Portugal neighborhood during Saturday’s storm. (CBC)
The school board says it expects all schools to be open on Wednesday.
“School officials and DDSB service providers will clear felled trees, broken branches and debris in schoolyards. There may be some changes to recreation and lunch depending on of that impact, “the DDSB said.
The Toronto District School Board said AY Jackson High School is also closed Tuesday due to power outages. Students are expected to participate in asynchronous learning during the day.
Many schools in the Peterborough, Kawartha Lakes and Northumberland regions are also closed on Tuesdays.
ALL Peterborough City / County schools except Enniskillen, Hastings, North Hope, Percy Centennial, Plainville & Roseneath Centennial Public Schools close tomorrow (May 24) due to this weekend’s storm . There will be no virtual or remote learning. https://t.co/2HAht9Wulf
– @kprschools