Listen to this article
Estimated 2 minutes
The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.
The London Fire Department says it is “incredibly swamped” as it responds to reports of fallen trees across the city in the aftermath of Friday’s freezing rain.
The rain pelted roads and walkways starting Boxing Day morning, with police warning drivers to avoid all unnecessary travel. By the evening, London Hydro reported more than 60 outages caused by trees falling onto power lines, affecting more than 10,000 customers. Trees were also falling onto people’s homes, said London Fire platoon chief Gary Mosburger.
“We’re incredibly swamped with lots of trees down on electrical wires, on homes, crushing roofs and so on, mixed in with other calls,” said Mosburger. “But we’re managing right now.”
Crews have also been called to help with extrication for rollover accidents by Veterans Memorial Parkway in the city’s east end, he said, adding that there have been no injuries reported.
London was hit with a mix of ice pellets and freezing rain throughout Boxing Day. (Andrew Lupton/CBC)
According to London Hydro’s outage map, the outages span from Sunningdale Road in the city’s north end to Commissioner’s Road East in the south and to Lambeth in the west.
“It’s the wind and the ice,” said Kathryn Arnot, spokesperson for London Hydro. “We’ve had some trees wind up on power lines. The outages are affecting about approximately 10,000 customers at the moment. ”
Line and forestry crews have been dispatched, said Arnot, and are working to isolate the impacted areas.
It’s hard to say exactly when power will be restored, said Arnot, but it helps that the freezing rain is starting to lift.
“That does make it easier for our crews to get a good handle on where the problem areas are without any other additional ones coming up,” she said.
By around 5 p.m., London Hydro was able to start posting estimated times of restoration to its social media accounts. In the meantime, their own safety, residents are asked to avoid power lines that have been knocked down.