Thousands without power as storm hammers eastern Ontario for 2nd day

The major winter storm that hit Ontario and Quebec Saturday has continued to wreak havoc on Sunday, with tens of thousands of people in eastern Ontario without power.

Environment Canada said Friday to prepare for widespread power outages and dangerous travel because of freezing rain that would be hitting communities from Bancroft to Belleville to Brockville.

It's since upgraded some regional warnings and extended them into Sunday.

As of 9 a.m. Sunday, the agency had freezing rain warnings in place for the entirety of eastern Ontario.

Along Lake Ontario, Environment Canada warned of up to 25 millimetres of ice accretion or more in places like Kingston, Belleville and Quinte West, with the possibility of widespread power outages.

For a swath stretching from the border of western Quebec to Ottawa and communities to the south — including Perth and Smiths Falls — five to 10 millimetres of ice accretion is still possible, Environment Canada said.

"The next round of precipitation is actually associated with that Colorado low that's going to be tracking right through almost all of Ontario and Quebec, so it will likely be bringing with it a little bit more precipitation," Environment Canada meteorologist Gina Ressler said Saturday afternoon.

Kingston has declared a significant weather event, putting in its snow plans for transit and overnight parking. Cornwall and Pembroke have followed suit.

For a benchmark, the infamous 1998 ice storm brought more than eight centimetres of ice to Ottawa over multiple days.

Power outages in Lake Ontario communities

Forecasters said Friday it would get slippery outside and tree branches could break as ice builds up, putting utilities like electricity at risk.

Around 3:30 p.m. Sunday, Hydro Ottawa's map showed fewer than 10 customers affected by power outages in the city.

But roughly 80,000 customers were experiencing power outages in eastern Ontario around that same time, according to Hydro One's outage map, particularly in communities along Lake Ontario like Kingston, Belleville and Quinte West.

Outages are measured in customers, not people, with a large building sometimes considered a single customer.

Hydro One spokesperson Tiziana Baccega Rosa said outages across the province are being caused by tree limbs and branches being weighed down by freezing rain and then breaking and falling onto power lines.

In a news release Sunday, the City of Kingston said that "multiple power lines" were down across the city and that crews were working "around the clock to clear debris and restore power."

Anyone who comes across an unattended downed power line should stay back at least 10 metres and call 911 to report it, the city said.

Organizations such as Emergency Management Ontario have advice on how to prepare for and manage power outages. CBC Lite is a low-bandwidth version of this website that can help you stay informed.

Dozens of collisions

Environment Canada and the Ontario Provincial Police recommend postponing non-essential travel under the freezing rain warnings.

OPP reported on X that its officers had responded to about 94 collisions across eastern Ontario between midnight and noon on Saturday.

Most of the collisions Saturday morning resulted in "no injuries or minor injuries," OPP wrote.

But they also said that one three-vehicle collision on Highway 138 north of Monkland Saturday morning was fatal, while another three-vehicle collision on Highway 416 near Spencerville just before midnight Friday resulted in at least seven people sent to hospital with injuries.

An OPP spokesperson said there had only been eight collisions reported during the same time period Sunday.