Winter storm in Eastern Canada leaves more than 150,000 without power

Crews are working to restore power to hundreds of thousands of customers in Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick, after a winter storm brought snow, freezing rain and rain to Eastern Canada.

Winter in Canada: Hundreds of thousands without power in Eastern Canada

9 years ago

Duration 4:16

Hydro-Québec reports more than 251,000 customers without service, 15,500 do without in Ontario and 14,000 more in N.B.

As of 2 p.m. ET Thursday, about 17,000 customers in Ontario, mostly concentrated in the eastern region of the province, were without electricity, according to Hydro One.

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As well, Hydro-Québec reported about 137,000 customers were without service. That included 47,702 customers in the Laurentides region north of Montreal, 52,160 in the Lanaudière region northeast of the city and about 2,077 customers in Montreal itself,.

In Quebec City, most schools were closed.

Meanwhile, many weather warnings remained in place in Quebec and Atlantic Canada.

• Storm Centre Quebec
• Storm Centre Montreal

Winter storm warnings were posted for regions including the Saguenay and Lac-Saint-Jean areas, with freezing rain warnings for areas south of the St. Lawrence River, including Rivière-du-Loup and the Gaspé Peninsula.

It's forecast the rain in the Montreal area will turn to snow later this afternoon, with the snow ending near midnight.

In New Brunswick, rainfall warnings were in place for the southern parts of the province, while freezing rain warnings for the northern parts of province were lifted.

• Freezing rain closes many schools across New Brunswick

NB Power said 2,933 customers were without power, primarily in the centre of the province, as of 3 p.m. AT.

• Storm Centre New Brunswick
• Storm Centre Newfoundland - East
• Storm Centre Newfoundland - West
• Storm Centre Newfoundland - Central
• Storm Centre Newfoundland - Labrador
• Storm Centre - Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia is forecast to see heavy rainfall and warm temperatures. Southwestern parts of the province were forecast to get up to 40 mm of rain, while Environment Canada said more than 25 mm could fall in the rest of the province by Thursday evening.

Temperatures are forecast to be mild, with the Annapolis Valley and Cumberland County expected see high temperatures between 14 and 16 C.

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Illustrating what a mix of weather the storm brought with it, the Weather Network's Chris Murphy said on CBC News Network that 35 cm of snow fell in Wiarton, Ont., while Hamilton received 51 mm of rain and two cm of snow. Toronto got 25 mm of rain and three cm of snow.

In Toronto, where early-morning rain changed to flurries, a "power bump" led to computer problems and long lineups at Pearson International Airport's Terminal 1.

• Toronto Pearson airport encountering flight delays due to power outage

An Air Canada representative said customers should expect flight delays, CBC's Simon Dingley tweeted. 

The airport later said that power had been fully restored but told travellers to check their flight status with their airline.