Storm cleanup begins for southern Ontario

A severe weather system roared through southern Ontario yesterday knocking out the power to almost 50-thousand Hydro One customers from Parry Sound in the north to Chatham in the south.

Sunday’s storm came in two waves, the first at supper hour, the second before midnight.

The agency warned “strong wind gusts up to 90 km/h along with local quarter size hail and heavy rain” could be in store. At the height of the storm, some 50,000 people were without electricity. According to Hydro One’s website about 27,000 customers were still without power as of 3 a.m. Monday.

The outages are spread over a vast area of the province.

The utility company Hydro One said it hopes to restore service to many of its customers by later Sunday night.

The approaching weather forced organizers with Veld Music Festival to evacuate the festival site at Downsview Park. So far there have been no reports of any personal injuries.

There were also unconfirmed reports of possible tornadoes touching down near Barrie, near Shelburne, Goderich, Minto, Kincardine and Port Perry.

Today most of southern Ontario will see calmer weather, though there’s a chance of afternoon thunderstorms.