Nearly 115,000 remain without power after high winds pound southern Ontario

Nearly 115,000 Ontarians remain without power on Sunday evening after high winds brought down trees and power lines across the southern part of the province on Saturday night.

Ontario utility Hydro One said crews are still working to restore power after Saturday's wind storm left about 450,000 customers in the dark.

"Our crews are in position and responding to significant power outages caused by Ontario's worst storm in recent years," said David Lebeter, Hydro One's chief operating officer.

"With the reports of damage increasing, we are prioritizing getting the lights back on to the greatest number of customers in the shortest period of time."

High winds of more than 100 km/h swept across parts of the province late Saturday night, causing significant damage and delaying power restoration efforts.

Hydro One said crews have restored power to more than 335,000 customers and are continuing to assess damage caused by the storm. It anticipates some customers will be without power for the remainder of Sunday and some possibly beyond Monday.

"To date, the company has reported more than 200 broken poles and 53 damaged transformers, downed power lines and fallen trees, with these numbers expected to increase as damage is assessed across the province," Hydro One said.

Police forces in southern Ontario were busy responding to calls about downed wires, trees and flying debris.

Environment Canada issued wind warnings for essentially all of the province's southern region on Saturday, as gusts of between 90 and 120 km/h were expected through the afternoon and evening.

The warnings had lifted for much of southwestern Ontario and the Greater Toronto Area by Saturday night, but they remained in place for eastern parts of the province.

Tweets from the Toronto Police Service reported hazards from fallen trees, traffic lights and scaffolding from a construction site on Saturday afternoon.

Waterloo Regional Police said several calls had reported downed hydro wires, fallen trees and debris blowing in the high winds on Saturday.

Halton Region police also shared reports of dangling traffic lights, downed trees and "flying debris" across the region west of Toronto.