Strong winds, heavy snow, and freezing rain continue to batter Canada on Christmas Eve to start the long holiday weekend, leaving hundreds of thousands without electricity, and passengers stranded on trains for over 18 hours.
The storm that closed schools, disrupted travel plans, and
cut power to hundreds of thousands of homes in B.C., Ontario, and Quebec on Dec. 23 will still be around today, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC).
In its
latest weather alerts, the agency said widespread blizzard conditions in Ontario and northern Quebec will persist throughout Saturday. Extreme cold weather will engulf the Prairie Provinces, while powerful gusts and heavy rain are set to hit Atlantic Canada as the storm moves eastward.
Meanwhile, B.C. and southern Quebec will continue to be impacted by winter storms, the ECCC said.
Stranded
Via Rail
said nine trains running between Quebec City and Windsor have been immobilized due to extreme weather conditions, and some passengers on social media say they have been stuck for over 18 hours without food or water.
The rail service said the trains are stuck due to power outages, trees on tracks, and even a tree falling on a locomotive.
The service added it is expecting significant service delays in the Quebec City-Windsor corridor Saturday and is urging passengers to check its website before going to Via stations.
Flights Cancelled
WestJet said
60 flights scheduled to fly out of Toronto Pearson Airport on Dec. 24 have been cancelled, as well as one flight scheduled for Sunday that’s been cancelled ahead of Christmas Day.
The airline cancelled all flights at airports in Ontario, Quebec, and B.C. on Dec. 23 with affected airports including those in Toronto; Ottawa; London, Ontario; Waterloo, Ontario; and Montreal.
Air Canada has
issued a list of flights that could face potential disruptions between Dec. 24 and Dec. 25, affecting flights to and from
multiple airports in Canada.
Road Conditions
Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) have urged against travelling unless it is “absolutely critically necessary.”
“This winter storm that has been blanketing Ontario all day continues into the overnight with strong winds, many areas with whiteout conditions. Snow is blowing with lake effect and with system snow,” said Sgt. Kerry Schmidt in a
video posted by the OPP Highway Safety Division on social media on Dec. 24 around 1:04 a.m. ET.
The division noted 500 collisions were reported with no fatalities at the time.
In an
update at 10:45 a.m. ET, Schmidt said many road closures remain in place. The list in southwestern Ontario includes Highway 401 between Tilbury and London, Highway 402 between Sarnia and London, and Highway 8 between Goderich and Mitchell.
“East Region, we’ve got the on-ramps shut down. Highway 401 is closed eastbound and westbound between Gardiners Road and Joyceville Road,” he said.
Closures in northern Ontario include Highway 17 between White River and Wawa, and Highway 519 between Highway 17 and Dubreuilville.
https://twitter.com/OPP_HSD/status/1606677423822864384
Outages
Hydro crews across provinces have been working round the clock to get the power back on.In a
news release on the night of Dec. 23, Hydro One said it had restored power to more than 110,000 customers across Ontario, although 70,000 more were still experiencing power outages caused by the winter storm that started early that morning.
“More outages expected as winter storm continues into Saturday,” the company said.
Hydro Ottawa
said about 240 of its customers were without power in a tweet on Dec. 24. The company was dealing with
26 outages affecting 8,600 customers in the city the day before at around 2:15 p.m. ET.
https://twitter.com/hydroottawa/status/1606686168262787072
More than 320,000 Hydro-Quebec customers remained without power Saturday morning, including nearly 80,000 in the Quebec City area.
Almost
45,000 New Brunswick Power customers were still in the dark early Saturday, along with nearly
15,000 in Nova Scotia. And on Prince Edward Island, Maritime Electric said about
6,630 customers were without electricity as of 11:15 a.m. local time.
In B.C., more than 15,000 residents in municipalities including Abbotsford, Burnaby, and Coquitlam were still without power since the early morning of Dec. 23, according to the outage list of
BC Hydro at 10:24 a.m. ET Saturday.
Due to heavy snowfall mixed with freezing rain in B.C.,
authorities have warned of “moderate to high” avalanche risk on parts of Highway 3 (between Hope and Hedley) and Highway 1 through the Fraser Canyon.
Andrew Chen and The Canadian Press contributed to this article.
