Thousands without power across Ontario due to strong winds

Thousands of Ontario residents are without power early Saturday afternoon after strong winds caused by a cold front buffeted southern and eastern Ontario as well as some of the province's northern regions.

An online map from Hydro One showed more than 300 outages in the early afternoon, mainly in southern and eastern Ontario.

In a tweet, Hydro One says the weather has caused power outages for over 14,000 customers, with more to be expected as the winds move across the province.

"Our teams are responding as quickly and safely as possible," said the province's largest electricity transmission and distribution service provider. 

Environment Canada advisories for the affected areas warned that winds with gusts up to 90 kilometres per hour were expected, including in the Greater Toronto Area, London and Windsor. 

"That's pretty much what happened," said Peter Kimbell, a warning preparedness meteorologist with the weather agency.

He said the highest wind gust recorded so far was in Port Colborne, Ont., on the shores of Lake Erie, where wind speeds reached as high as 100 kilometres per hour.

However, the stormy conditions were relatively short-lived, Kimbell said, adding areas battered by high winds should already be seeing local improvement.

"The peak winds were relatively brief, maybe an hour," he said.

The agency had previously said the winds could cause power outages and damage buildings.

In Toronto, police responded to multiple incidents caused by the weather, such as signs falling near street intersections and trees that collapsed and brought local wires down with them.

According to tweets from Toronto police, multiple roads have been closed in impacted areas. Officers urge drivers and pedestrians to use caution and to expect delays near:

Toronto Hydro said in a tweet that crews have been dispatched to areas that have been impacted, with power restored to a majority of customers as of 2:30 p.m.

It encouraged all customers to keep their mobile phones charged and to conserve battery power. More tips can be found on Toronto Hydro's website.