By Adam Brazeau
CORNWALL, Ontario – While some see the beauty in this winter wonderland, it’s wreaking havoc on the city with brief power outages and dangerous driving conditions.
Cornwall Electric general manager Mike Pescod said the utility is grappling with a few pockets of outages in the city, caused by downed limbs.
An icy tree branch fell on a power line and caused an outage for roughly an hour starting at 11:30 a.m. around Adolphus Street between Second and Ninth streets as well as offshoots of the area.
Dozens of Hydro One customers outside the city are without power thanks to similar circumstances. The rural outages stretch from Cardinal all the way to the Quebec border.
Things could get worse tonight, when winds are expected to pick up and ice-covered trees and power lines begin to blow around.
Pescod reassures Cornwall Electric customers that service crews are out in full force removing precarious branches and resolving any problems.
“We expect there might be some small issues, but we’re not anticipating any terrible outcomes for tonight,” he said.
Environment Canada issued a weather alert for Cornwall, Lancaster, Maxville, Alexandria, Morrisburg, Long Sault, Winchester, and Newington.
Periods of heavy freezing rain will continue through Sunday evening with ice accumulations of 10 to 15 millimeters.
The city’s trees are bearing the weight of this storm. And with the buildup of snow and ice, some large branches have broken or come crashing down altogether.
Environment Canada recommends not traveling today.
