Sudbury Northern Life Reporter Bill Bradley
UPDATE - The power has returned to all but 234 Hydro One customers in Sudbury as of 2 p.m. Monday.
“Hydro One confirms it has now restored power to 115,000 people, about 50 per cent of customers impacted by yesterday's severe windstorm. By mid-morning today, approximately 120,000 customers remain without power,” stated a release Monday afternoon.
In Northern Ontario, 979 Timmins customers were still without without power, Manitoulin had 1,735 without service while Nipissing had 7,854 without electricity.
For more information visithttp://www.hydroonenetworks.com.
The lights went out Sunday for Hydro One customers locally and around the province.
“It's the biggest storm we have faced yet,” said Daniel Gauvin, media relations person for Hydro One.
Gauvin sent a press release at 8 p.m. Sunday evening which indicated 5,275 Hydro One customers in Greater Sudbury are without power.
“A severe windstorm early this morning caused trees and branches to fall on the lines causing extensive damage to the (electrical) distribution system,” she said.
From Greyhound bus passengers traveling from Toronto to Sudbury having to forfeit their usual stopover in Nobel late Sunday afternoon, to people being stranded in the northern part of Greater Sudbury, the weather affected many people.
Northern Life photographer Marg Seregelyi reported that traffic lights were out at two intersections at Valleyview Road and in the main intersection in Val Caron.
“It was at approximately 3:30 p.m.,” noted Seregelyi.
Greyhound bus passengers were shocked at approximately 4 pm when their bus pulled up to a rest stop near Nobel just north of Parry Sound. Though there were dozens of cars parked with people spilling out to get their coffee fix or a bite to eat out side the eatery, bus passengers noticed that the doors were blockaded by waste bins. As the bus continued to the next stop at a Wendy's restaurant, passengers noticed signs blown down and a few hydro wires dangling and even poles tilted at odd angles along the way. The Wendy's likewise was closed. The bus driver informed passengers that there was a power outage in the area.
As the bus continued north to Sudbury passengers noticed houses along the way had no lights on despite evening approaching.
Gauvin said that almost 5,000 customers were affected on Manitoulin Island, over 11,000 in Nipissing and almost 1,000 homes in Timmins lost power.
Further south, 78,000 customers were affected in Parry Sound, Owen Sound, Barrie, Bracebridge and Huntsville. In eastern Ontario, 52,000 were affected in Kingston, Trenton, Bancroft and Tweed areas.
Hydro one emergency crews are working on rectifying the situation.
“We now have all our people zeroing-in on assessment and working on what could be three days of restoration efforts,” said Myles D'Arcey, senior vice president customer operations, Hydro One in a release.
“All available crews will continue to focus on repair work until every customer is returned to service.”
Hydro One advises people to take extra precaution near fallen power lines.
“Even if a fallen wire seems dead, it can still 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,” states the release.