Thousands still without power after powerful storm in Ontario

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TORONTO — In addition to breaking trees and hydro poles a brief yet blustery thunderstorm that made its way across southern Ontario on Saturday also broke at least one record.

“We did have very strong wind gusts as a result of this thunderstorm line that went through,” Environment Canada meteorologist Sarah Wong said Sunday.

“At Toronto Pearson Airport we had a recorded gust of 115 kilometres per hour, and that was the strongest wind gust reported since January 1978.”

Reports of funnel clouds came in from areas such as Windsor, Ont., where the roof was ripped off a Canadian Union of Public Employees building, and from Aylmer, Que., where backup dispatchers had to be sent to deal with the close to 700 emergency calls.

Wong said the sightings are unofficial, and the agency doesn’t investigate unless there is confirmed evidence of large areas of damage.

“These were straight-line winds that caused the damage,” Wong said. “Most in the 100 kilometre per hour range.”

In Toronto a man was rushed to hospital with serious head injuries after he was struck by an 18-kilogram sign that winds sent flying through the air.

Hydro One crews worked through most of Saturday night and into Sunday morning to restore power after 44,000 customers were left in the dark.

As of late Sunday afternoon more than 10,000 customers were still without power.

“The most damage was right at the start of the storm when the storm ran through southwestern Ontario in areas like Listowel, Sarnia, and Clinton,” said Hydro One spokesman Corey Labatt.

Residents of Listowel, one hour north of Stratford, could be in the dark until as late as Tuesday evening.

“That’s sort of the worst-case scenario,” Labatt said.

In nearby Drayton, a boil-water advisory was issued for people using the municipal water system.

Officials say the system lost pressure thanks to the power outage, and warn the advisory could be in place for a few days until water tests come back.

The remainder of the province was expected to have power restored by 10 p.m. Sunday at the latest.

This entry was posted on 26. April 2009 at 17:41 and is filed under Canada News, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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