More than 150,000 still without power after destructive storm

People living in some parts of Ontario could wait several days for hydro

Residents in some parts of Ontario could be waiting several days for power to be restored, a major hydro provider said Tuesday as crews worked to repair extensive damage caused by a deadly weekend storm that barrelled across much of the province.

Ten people died after Saturday afternoon’s thunderstorm, which downed power lines, destroyed property and felled thousands of trees.

Provincial provider Hydro One said Tuesday afternoon that more than 142,000 customers were still without power, while Hydro Ottawa said it had 74,000 customers without service around midday.

“We anticipate having everyone restored over the course of the next several days,” Hydro One spokesperson Tiziana Baccega Rosa said in an interview. Hydro One said the damage from the storm included more than 1,400 broken poles, 300 broken crossarms and nearly 200 damaged transformers as well as “countless trees.”

In Uxbridge, Ont., east of Toronto, roof shingles and tree branches littered the streets while the roof of a neighbourhood church had been ripped off. Bricks could be seen strewn across the church yard while nearby, hydro crews worked on repairing damaged power lines.

Sarah Reid, whose Uxbridge home was damaged by the storm, said the severity of the weather event, and the damage it brought, left her stunned.

“It’s not ever going to be normal again,” she said as she stood in her front yard, where much of the roof of a nearby church had landed.

Reid said she didn’t receive a cellphone alert about the storm but had heard some of the warning on the radio before it hit.

“The sky went black. There was a great whooshing, roaring screaming howling. Suddenly there was a crash,” she recalled.

A tree snapped in her front yard, breaking the window she had been standing near, another smashed into her patio, tiles flew off the roof and debris crashed into her yard, she said. “I didn’t know what was happening. I thought oh it’s a big storm, there’s been big storms before but nothing like that,” she said.