Thousands of residents across Muskoka are still without power due to damage caused by freezing rain that moved through the region on March 11.
According to Bianca Pizzo, media relations officer with Hydro One, there are still over 3,600 customers without power in the Huntsville area and around 1,200 customers without power around Bracebridge.
“There was some high wind activity overnight and a drop in temperature, which today has resulted in tree limbs and branches coming down on power lines,” she said. “As our crews are arriving at areas that have power outages, they are assessing the damage, and they’re going to be applying or assessing what’s going on and giving each outage its own restoration time. And that may fluctuate throughout the day.”
Pizzo said their crews are out in full force today, and they are working as quickly and safely as possible.
Currently, restoration times across Muskoka vary, with many listed at around 5 p.m. However, for a large number of the outages, no restoration times are listed as the damage is still being assessed.
Pizzo said if someone sees a downed power line, it is critical to stay at least 10 meters away, roughly the length of a school bus.
“When they’re inside the home, if their power is out, try to refrain from opening fridges and freezers to conserve as much of that cold air as they can,” she said.
Pizzo also advised residents to ensure appliances, such as stoves, are turned off, keep cellphones and devices fully charged, and use a battery-powered alarm clock or cellphone to avoid missing morning alarms.
If water services are disrupted, she recommended filling jugs for drinking and cooking, and for those using generators, she advised operating them outdoors in a dry area away from open windows, doors, and vents.
For more details, check out the Hydro One outage map.
