An Air Canada aircraft taxis at Vancouver International Airport in Richmond, B.C., on Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2022. A major winter storm is bearing down on Ontario and Quebec, with residents being warned to reconsider travel plans as conditions could get hazardous.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
A major winter storm hitting Ontario and Quebec cancelled flights, closed schools and knocked out power for hundreds of thousands of people Friday, with an Environment Canada meteorologist warning of a possible once-in-a-decade weather event.
Environment Canada predicted strong winds, heavy snowfall and possible flash freezing, issuing winter storm warnings for the vast majority of Ontario and Quebec.
“We may only see one of these storms every five or 10 years,” said Environment Canada meteorologist Mitch Meredith. “I’ve only seen a couple of storms like this in the last 20 years.”
Environment Canada said flash freezes were likely as rain turned to heavy snow Friday in parts of southern Ontario, creating dangerous driving conditions.
Ontario Provincial Police shut down Highway 401 west of London, Ont., Friday morning after reporting multiple collisions.
Meanwhile, strong winds began to wreak havoc on provincial utilities.
Hydro Quebec said outages were affecting more than 225,000 customers.
Hydro One, Ontario’s largest electricity utility, said roughly 45,000 customers without power as of 11 a.m. Hydro Ottawa said 25,000 residents were without power, mainly due to branches downing wires.
Environment Canada predicted winds up to 100 kilometres an hour in many parts of Ontario. Those gusts could be even higher in some areas around Lake Ontario such as Niagara and Kingston, where the agency forecasted “crippling blizzard conditions.”
“The problem with that is the temperatures (are) going down way below zero right when we’re getting power outages. So, this is a dangerous situation for people,” Meredith said.
In Quebec, many regions are expected to receive a mix of heavy snow, rain and strong winds.
The storm upended holiday travel plans for thousands of people as airlines pre-emptively cancelled flights, with more disruptions expected.
Rob Milton, travelling with his wife, said his flight to Quebec was cancelled Friday morning out of Toronto’s Pearson airport, throwing a major wrench in the couple’s plans to celebrate Christmas in Quebec City.
“We had a hotel in Quebec booked; we had to cancel it. We had restaurants; we had to cancel those. We had the whole weekend planned,” he said at the airport.
Daniel Araya, who was travelling with his family from Chile to Vancouver, was stuck at the Toronto airport after his fight was delayed due to the weather.
“We really are hoping for a Christmas miracle,” he said. “We spent a lot of time to get here and it will be really sad if we can’t make it to Vancouver to see my sister.”
WestJet had announced late Thursday that it was cancelling flights at airports in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia.
The airline announced 300 “proactive” flight cancellations Friday for B.C., southern Ontario and Quebec due to the bad weather. That brings the airline’s total cancellations since Monday to 1,196, according to an emailed statement.
Air Canada said Friday that it had cancelled “a number of flights” in Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto, including all its flights out of Toronto’s downtown island airport, citing the storm, reduced airport capacity and operational constraints.
The Toronto Transit Commission took out of service 41 bus stops in hilly areas difficult to navigate in snowy and icy conditions. GO Transit, which serves the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, cancelled express trains and reduced train service during peak times.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 23, 2022.
