Hundreds of thousands of eastern Canadians face power outages

31/3/2025 6:05

Over 300,000 Canadians

faced power outages in parts of Ontario on Sunday as an ice

storm pummeled the region over the weekend, according to

electricity provider Hydro One.



Environment Canada issued winter storm warnings for freezing

rain in Ottawa, parts of Quebec and Ontario, with the risk of

snow mixed with or transitioning to ice pellets expected to

continue until Monday morning in some regions.



"Outages are largely being caused by tree limbs and branches

being weighed down from the accumulation of freezing rain,"

Hydro One said on its website, noting there is also the risk of

flooding for central Ontario.



More than 350,000 customers were affected as of Sunday

afternoon, according to the website, with power expected to be

restored on April 1.



Utilities provider Alectra said there were about 35,000

customers without power, primarily in Barrie, a town north of

Toronto. "Progress has been slow due to the ice on the lines,

but all available resources have been deployed," it said on

Sunday.



The city of Orillia in Ontario declared a state of emergency

due to the storm as prolonged freezing rain continues to cause

widespread power outages, hazardous road conditions, downed

trees and hydro lines, and damage to public and private

infrastructure.



"This is a very serious situation with hazardous road

conditions, downed trees and hydro lines, and damage to public

and private infrastructure," the city said on its website.



Several residents across Ontario said on social media that

roads were closed due to uprooted trees and they had heard

crashing tress since the storm began.