Thousands without power across southwestern Ontario after severe thunderstorm

Thousands without power across southwestern Ontario after severe thunderstorm

Huron, Middlesex, Oxford and Perth counties among areas with power outages across Ontario

Thousands of people across parts of southwestern Ontario are without power after thunderstorms rolled through the region on Wednesday, downing power lines and knocking down branches and trees.

Hydro One's outage map shows isolated outages throughout rural areas outside of London and Kitchener, including Blyth, Komoka, Dorchester, south of St. Marys and Stratford, and northeast of Guelph.

Almost 90,000 people across the province are without power as of Thursday morning, according to Hydro One. Wednesday's severe weather and thunderstorms brought high winds, causing branches and tree limbs to fall onto power lines and cause damage.

In an alert posted on its website, Hydro One said it is responding as safely and quickly as possible to outages caused by thunderstorms across the province.

For Cynthia Penn in Komoka, just west of London, the outage means some customers at her massage clinic are having to cancel appointments.

The owner of Komoka Massage Therapy said while her business has a backup generator, there is no air conditioning in the building.

"The lights are on, everything's fine, but there is no AC. It's starting just to get warmer and warmer and warmer," she said. "It's not good. I've had a few people cancel."

Penn wonders if they will be able to stay open if it isn't fixed soon.

"I am hoping it will come back on," she said. "We might not be able to work later as it gets hotter and hotter."

She's heard of some residents heading out for a drive in their vehicle to stay cool, she said.

Brian Young owns Ultimate Rink and Party Supply Co. south of Stratford in Saint Pauls Station. He said power went out during the storm yesterday evening while he was at a party, and he's had his generator running since. Young woke up this morning to hear the generator still on, realizing it hadn't yet been fixed, he said.

"We're lucky to be able to continue on with our day," he said.

"Let's just say we're in a situation where we got power, we're cool, air conditioning is on, but there's a lot of people who are going to be sweating."

Bianca Pizzo, a spokersperson for Hydro One, said once crews are alerted to outages they will go assess the damage, and then estimate the time it will take to restore power.

The restoration time can vary, and Hydro One is prioritizing restoration that brings power back to the most amount of customers, the quickest, she added.

Hydro One said the estimated time of restoration may change when crews are onsite and start repairs based on additional damage, repairs or work required.

They suggest having an emergency kit on hand for prolonged power outages packed with things such as batteries, blankets, water, canned food for people and pets, and cash, said Pizzo.

"Inclement weather might be coming through and outages might happen, to make sure that all of your devices have been charged fully."

People should remain at least 10 metres from any fallen powerlines and if using a generator, ensure it is outside and away from any windows of ventilation.

If you experience an outage that is not on their outage map, it can be reported to them through the Outage Mapper App or texting 92887.

If people are experiencing an outage and they want information on cooling centres in their community, they can call 211, said Pizzo.

Michelle Both is the producer for CBC's Afternoon Drive in London and Windsor. She has roots in Bruce County and holds a master's degree in journalism and communication from Western University. You can reach her at michelle.both@cbc.ca.