As of Tuesday, 4,000 people in the Huntsville and Bracebridge areas were still without power following Saturday evening’s storm, which saw heavy winds and a steady downfall of snow causing thousands of power outages across the province.

Hydro One has restored power to more than 150,000 customers affected by the high winds and heavy snow that hit the province late Saturday night. More than 500 Hydro One staff worked to continue restoring power. On Tuesday, about 6,800 Hydro One customers remained without power, and almost all, except those in the most remote locations, were expected to be back on yesterday.

According to Daniele Gauvin, media officer for Hydro One, in the Huntsville area alone 400 Hydro One customers were still waiting for their power to be restored late Tuesday morning. However, she noted that Hydro One crews were working diligently to resolve outages in Huntsville by noon yesterday.

“We don’t expect any overnight customers in (the Huntsville) area (Tuesday evening), although there will be some seasonal customers in Bracebridge who may not be back on until (Wednesday),” she said.

“Power outages in the winter are a serious concern for our customers and we will do all possible to have people restored as quickly and safely as we can,” said Myles D’Arcey, senior vice-president of customer operations for Hydro One. “We will continue to deploy all available resources to restore power and as power is restored in one area, crews will be redeployed to assist with further restoration efforts.”

Among some of the most impacted areas affected from the storm were Bracebridge, where a reported 9,400 people were without hydro, as well as Barrie, Orillia, Minden, and Penetanguishene.

Peter Brown, director of public works for the Town of Huntsville, indicated that the town had received many phone calls, which started Saturday evening and continued until Monday, regarding fallen trees on area roads.

“There were a lot of trees down, probably more so in Port Sydney than anywhere else,” he said. “There were areas that had quite a few trees down mostly due to the weight of the snow.”

Lauri Romanko, public works supervisor for the Township of Lake of Bays, stated that the public began placing calls regarding fallen trees early Sunday morning.

“We’re still cleaning up,” he said. “We had lots of trees down…. probably around 20 on some roads. Some of them were anywhere from couple inches around to two feet in diameter.”

Hydro One strongly urges people to take extra precaution near fallen power lines. Even if a fallen wire seems dead, it can be dangerous. People are urged to report to Hydro One the location of the fallen wires as soon as possible. Touching a vehicle that is in contact with a power line can be fatal.