Winter storms are causing heavy snow, freezing rain, flight cancellations, and power outages in several provinces.
Roughly 300,000 customers are without power in Ontario and Quebec.
Hydro One said more than 50,000 customers are without power across most of southern Ontario, while Hydro Ottawa said at around 2:15 p.m. ET that roughly 8,600 of its customers were affected by 26 outages reported in the city.
About 30,000 customers are without power in central Ontario, with outages stretching from north of Peterborough to south of Algonquin Provincial Park.
Toronto Hydro’s outage map shows thousands of customers in the North York district, north of Toronto, currently out of power.
Hydro-Québec says over 241,000 customers were without power as of noon on Friday, with the largest outages affecting the Capitale−Nationale, Outaouais, Estrie, Laurentides, and Montérégie regions.
Ontario Provincial Police have advised against travelling, saying that Highway 401 and 402 in southwestern Ontario are temporarily closed due to multiple collisions involving up to 100 vehicles.
In British Columbia, some 5,000 residents in the municipalities of Tofino and Ucluelet were left without power since the early morning of Dec. 23. Another nearly 2,000 customers in Boat Harbour also experienced outages.
The B.C. government has issued a vehicle travel advisory, as the province is expecting snow accumulations of 20 to 30 centimetres, as well as possible ice pellets and freezing rain that could cause ice on roadways. Some highways and bridges, including the Port Mann Bridge and Alex Fraser Bridge, are temporarily closed due to risks of ice falling on vehicles.
More than 20 million people across the country may be affected by the storm, said Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC). The agency has issued extreme cold alerts and winter storm alerts ahead of the storm, warning of strong winds, heavy snow, and freezing rain.
The storm has already caused a blackout for 1.4 million citizens in the United States, with 200 million people placed under an advisory or warning the morning of Dec. 23.
Flights Cancelled
Toronto Pearson International Airport and Ottawa International Airport have both advised travellers to check their flight status before leaving for the airport, as numerous flights have been cancelled or delayed.WestJet said in a news release that it has “proactively cancelled” flights beginning 9 a.m. on Dec. 23, affecting flights to and from Toronto, Ottawa, London, and Waterloo, Ontario, and Montreal, Quebec.
When operations will resume depends on weather conditions on Dec. 24, the company said.
Air Canada said it has cancelled “a number of flights” in Ottawa, Montreal, and Toronto. It also issued a list of flights that could face potential disruptions from Dec. 23 to Dec. 25, affecting flights to and from multiple airports in Canada and the United States.
The Canadian Press contributed to this report.
