On Saturday night, strong winds knocked down trees and power lines in southern Ontario, shutting down nearly 80,000 Ontarioans on Sunday night.

Hydro One, an Ontario utility company, said that after Saturday’s storm plunged approximately 490,000 customers into darkness, staff are working to restore power.

David Lebeter, Hydro One's chief operating officer, said: "Our staff are in place and are responding to the severe power outages caused by Ontario's worst storm in recent years."

"With the increase in damage reports, we are prioritizing re-lighting for the most customers in the shortest possible time."

Later on Saturday, high winds of more than 100 km/h swept parts of the province, causing major damage and delaying power restoration.

First Power said that its staff have restored power to more than 410,000 customers and continue to assess the damage caused by the storm. It expects that some customers will lose power for the rest of Sunday, while some customers may lose power after Monday.

“To date, the damage includes 250 damaged utility poles and nearly 60 damaged transformers, collapsed electrical wires and fallen trees, and these numbers are expected to increase,” Hydro One said.

Police forces in southern Ontario are busy answering calls about electrical wires, trees, and flying debris.

On Saturday, Environment Canada issued a strong wind warning for almost all areas in the southern province of the province, with gusts expected to reach 90 to 120 kilometers per hour in the afternoon and evening.

By Saturday night, the warnings had been lifted in most parts of southwestern Ontario and the Greater Toronto Area, but warnings in the eastern part of the province still existed.

Update: As <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ONstorm?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ONstorm</a> continued, more than 200,000 customers were powered off. We look forward to customers in the worst-hit areas in the South, Central, and Central China. Dongan was powered off overnight. Once safe, more staff will go to help. We thank everyone for your patience. <a href="https://t.co/iZjbN7yKip">pic.twitter.com/iZjbN7yKip</a>

Toronto Hydro said that as of Sunday night, about 100 customers in the city were still experiencing power outages.

A Toronto Hydro Corporation spokesperson said: "The staff made significant progress after the storm and restored power to most customers."

"Don't worry, the restoration work will continue throughout the night to restore electricity to the smaller affected communities, individual homes and businesses. There are about 100 customers in total."

Toronto Hydro said it is currently difficult to determine how long it will take to restore power to affected individuals. 

On Saturday afternoon, a tweet from the Toronto Police Department reported the dangers caused by collapsed trees, traffic lights and scaffolding on construction sites.

Workers are dealing with scattered power outages, but resuming work may be affected by strong winds, as they can cause unsafe working conditions. High winds prevented workers from safely assessing damage and repairing overhead equipment from the truck's bucket.

Police in the Waterloo area said there were several phone calls on Saturday that reported that water and electricity lines had been shot down, trees had fallen, and debris had been blowing in the wind.

The Horton Regional Police also shared reports of shaking traffic lights, falling trees and "flying debris" in the area west of Toronto.

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