1 million customers hit hard. Ontario's historic ice storm by the numbers
Ontario continues its long-duration recovery efforts after a powerful, historic ice storm affected more than one million people. So, when will those still in the dark see electricity return?
It's been a little more than a week since the start of what has turned out to be a destructive, widespread ice storm in Ontario.
A massive undertaking by more than 4,800 Hydro One staff and crews from out of province have spent more than a week working on getting power back to about one million customers impacted by the severe ice storm.
RELATED: Orillia cleans up after punishing storms
While power has been restored to around 900,000 customers since last weekend, just more than 38,000 in the province (includes those related and unrelated to the ice storm) are still in the dark as of Monday evening (April 7).
Crews have restored power to more than 96 per cent of customers since the storm began on Friday, March 28, according to Hydro One.
To date, hydro crews have identified more than 2,300 broken poles as a result of the significant ice accretion.
Multiple states of emergency were declared due to the damage and power outages, including the cities of Orillia and Peterborough, Ont., the District of Muskoka and the Township of Oro-Medonte. As of Saturday, the states of emergency remain intact for the aforementioned communities.
Trenton, Ont., endured 35 hours of freezing rain while Lindsay, Ont., received 25 mm of ice accretion.
Power restoration will continue into this week
Restoration in the hardest-hit areas will continue this week. For remote areas, however, including customers who can only be reached by water, restoration may take longer, according to Hydro One.
"Today’s (Monday) weather forecast is favourable for restoration. However, high winds and snow are expected this evening in areas affected by the ice storm. This may slow restoration and cause new outages as loose trees/limbs may continue to come down. Localized flooding continues to be an issue in some areas," said Hydro One in an April 7 update.
Ice accretion in Orillia, Ont., on Saturday, March 29. (Nathan Howes/The Weather Network)
"Restoration may be slowed if roads are affected. Severe damage continues to be discovered as new areas are accessed. Crews are rebuilding of sections of the local distribution grid in many places."
Some residents say that, despite the challenges, morale remains high.
“Other people come around and pick up for everybody else," Susan Carr, an Orillia resident, told The Weather Network.
DON'T MISS: Toronto braces for one of its coldest April days as temperatures drop
How does the ice storm compare to past events?
Last weekend's ice storm has been rather damaging and memorable, so how does it compare with past events, especially the 1998 and 2013 events, especially?
To put it into perspective, as mentioned previously, the March 2025 ice storm has affected one million Ontario customers. The December 2013 event impacted more than 800,000 customers and the January 1998 ice storm affected more than 1.6 million customers across Ontario and Quebec.
The December 2013 ice storm was much worse for Toronto, Ont., specifically, according to Tyler Hamilton, a meteorologist at The Weather Network. However, the latest storm knocked out power to more customers overall, with the greatest impacts felt north of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).
The December 2013 ice storm was followed by a cold snap that made the cleanup far trickier with additional outages spiralling passed Christmas.
“This weather event is the most severe we’ve faced since the ice storm in 1998, causing widespread damage. Since Friday, we’ve restored power to more than 667,000 customers and we won’t stop until the power is back on,” a Hydro One member told CTV News.
Snow and cold temperatures arrive
Those who will contend with the power outages this week will be dealing with more obstacles: Cold and snow.
A slug of Arctic air sinking south has infiltrated Ontario to start the new work week, sticking around Tuesday––ushering in a bout of spring snowfall with it.
WATCH: Rural Ontario suffering for days without power have unique challenges
With files from Tyler Hamilton, a meteorologist at The Weather Network.