Hydro One crews, with the help of contractors and other utilities, have restored power to more than 430,000 customers since the start of the winter storm. While approximately 20,000 customers remain without power at this time, progress is expected again today as roads continue to reopen and crews work behind snowplows to reach customers.
Significant road closures continue in Bracebridge, Huntsville and parts of Parry Sound, and it is anticipated that conditions may worsen today as another significant snowfall is expected. Crews in these communities are using snowmobiles and snowshoes to assess the damage and restore power.
“We continue to move crews into the hardest hit areas to help get the power restored as roads reopen. In the meantime, our dedicated team members are using every means possible to reach customers in these inaccessible areas,” said David Lebeter, Chief Operating Officer, Hydro One. “We know how difficult it is to be without power for several days, especially during the winter, and we thank our customers for their continued patience as we all work through these challenging circumstances.”
While progress restoring power is expected today, customers in inaccessible areas due to road closures will likely be without power again overnight. The company also anticipates that water access only and island customers will remain without power until it is safe to fly helicopters or use boats to reach them.
If the power in your area is affected by severe weather, be sure to stay clear of any fallen power lines. If you spot a fallen line, keep at least 10 metres back, even if it does not appear to be live. Report it to 911 and call Hydro One at 1-800-434-1235.
Hydro One has a number of innovative outage tools available for customers to report power outages and easily access updates when and how they want. Customers can report their outage by texting 92887 (WATTS), through the company’s outage map and app, or by calling 1-800-434-1235.
As outages occur, an estimated time of restoration will be determined for each outage once the damage has been assessed by our crews. Hydro One’s outage tools are updated every 10 minutes as information comes in from crews on the ground.