Hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in southern Ontario remained without power on Dec. 23 in the aftermath of one of the area’s worst ice storms in recent history.
In Wellington County the number still without power was in the thousands, though exact figures are hard to estimate.
Hydro One’s power outage map (at http://www.hydroone.com/StormCenter3) indicated over 30,000 homes were without power on Dec. 23 in the Guelph, Listowel and Orangeville areas, which each include a portion of Wellington County.
The map includes pockets of power outages throughout the county, ranging in size from a couple dozen customers to several thousand.
Most of the power was restored in Fergus and Elora by Centre Wellington Hydro, which has about 6,200 customers, by the morning of Dec. 23.
Wellington North Power reported that it had all of its approximately 3,600 customers with power restored by the morning of Dec. 23.
Westario Power operations manager David Leonce reported at about 11:30am on Dec. 23 that aside from a few “sporadic outages,” power had been restored to all areas serviced by Westario, including the Town of Minto.
On the morning of Dec. 23 Wellington County officials released the list of the following warming centres that are open to the public:
– Centre Wellington Community Sportsplex in Fergus, open until 12 midnight (showers and cots available to all residents in need;
– Elora and District Community Centre, open regular business hours;
– Erin Fire Station, open regular business hours;
– Minto arena and community centres in Harriston, Clifford and Palmerston, open regular business hours;
– Moorefield Fire Hall, open regular business hours;
– Puslinch Community Centre in Aberfoyle, open until 10pm;
– Mount Forest and District Sports Complex, open until 11pm; and
– Arthur Community Centre, open until 11pm.
The county also announced on Dec. 23 that the museum and archives in Aboyne would remain closed due to a power outage, as would libraries in Marden, Aboyne, Erin and Hillsburgh.
A number of roads throughout the county remained closed on Dec. 23 due to downed trees and/or power outages.
Officials are urging residents to use caution on roads and sidewalks and to avoid downed power lines.
Several municipalities, including Minto and Centre Wellington, have stated residents can place broken tree limbs and branches by the road for pick-up over the coming weeks.
The Grand River Conservation Authority announced the closure of trails on Dec. 23, including the Elora-Cataract Trailway, due to downed trees.
