A chilling Boxing Day afternoon descended upon London as a relentless freezing rain transformed the city into a treacherous landscape. Trees and power lines became coated in a thick, glittering armor of ice, triggering widespread outages and hazardous travel conditions.
By 5:08 p.m., London Hydro reported a staggering 69 outages gripping the city, leaving approximately 5,300 customers in the dark. The hardest-hit areas stretched across multiple neighbourhoods, plunging homes into cold and uncertainty.
The Highland, South London, and Southcrest areas bore the brunt of the storm, with nearly 3,000 customers affected. Fox Hollow and Sunningdale followed closely, while Argyle, Crumlin, and Hamilton Road also experienced significant disruptions.
Earlier in the day, the outage map revealed even more extensive damage, with thousands more without power in both the northern and southern reaches of the city. Sporadic outages continued to pop up in Oakridge, Byron, and Lambeth, painting a picture of widespread vulnerability.
Residents took to online forums, sharing stories of flickering lights and prolonged darkness. One individual near Wharncliffe Road and Centre Street described power cycling on and off, their apartment growing colder with each interruption.
The sound of transformers exploding echoed through neighbourhoods as residents worked tirelessly to clear fallen branches from vehicles. The weight of the ice proved too much for many aging trees, sending limbs crashing down.
London Hydro spokesperson Kathryn Arnot confirmed the cause: ice-laden branches making contact with power lines. Crews were dispatched, but the sheer scale of the damage presented a formidable challenge.
Restoration efforts were expected to stretch well into the evening, and potentially overnight, depending on the severity of the damage and the ongoing weather conditions. Isolating individual issues proved a painstaking process.
“For this kind of an ice storm, it’s pretty usual, actually,” Arnot explained, emphasizing the predictable danger of heavy ice accumulation on brittle branches. The weight was simply too much for many trees to bear.
The crisis unfolded under a freezing rain warning issued by Environment Canada, with temperatures hovering just below freezing. The slick conditions prompted urgent warnings from authorities.
Ontario Provincial Police Sgt. Ed Sanchuk implored drivers to stay off the roads, noting the dangerous combination of snow and ice. Despite the warnings, numerous crashes were reported across the region.
The skies weren’t spared either, as flights departing from and arriving at London International Airport were cancelled, stranding travellers and disrupting holiday plans. The storm’s impact rippled through the city, leaving a trail of inconvenience and concern.
