Intense Ontario snow strands vehicles, knocks out power as town calls emergency

Intense snow squalls battering Ontario moved south Sunday after burying some parts of the province under more than a metre of snow, stranding people on roadways and prompting one town to declare a state of emergency.

Gravenhurst, a town in Ontario’s Muskoka region hit with around 140 centimetres of snowfall, declared a state of emergency early Sunday.

“This is the most snow I’ve seen in the 27 years that I’ve lived here, in such a short period of time,” Gravenhurst Mayor Heidi Lorenz said in an interview.

An impassable, snow-covered stretch of Highway 11 inundated by collisions had separated parts of the town from plows and emergency services on Saturday, prompting the state of emergency declaration, she said.

“It was a perfect disaster.”

Plow reinforcements were called in and skies started clear later Sunday after more than two days of nearly relentless snowfall.

The shifting winds offered relief to hard-hit communities but threatened to deliver snow squalls to areas further south, toward the Bruce Peninsula and London areas.

Premier Doug Ford said the province was working closely with local authorities to help them respond to the storm. Ford said he was relieved no injuries or deaths had been reported.

“As cleanup crews continue their work, the best thing people in the area can do is stay home and stay safe until power is restored and roads and highways have been safely opened again,” he said in a statement posted to social media.

Snowmobile-riding first responders took to otherwise impassable roads to help rescue people from stranded vehicles around Muskoka, police said. It was unclear how many people were still stranded on Sunday, though a police spokesperson suggested some had been stuck overnight.

Ontario Provincial Police extended a closure of Highway 11 on Sunday to encompass a nearly 100-kilometre stretch between Orillia and Huntsville after people became trapped the previous day.

Those who requested help had been pulled from the highway by Sunday morning as work continued into the afternoon to tow the last abandoned cars, said Brooklyn Harker, media relations coordinator for the OPP’s Central Region.

The focus turned to combing through side roads to check for anyone who needed help, she said.

Some truck drivers chose to brave the night in vehicles fitted for long haul trips, said Lorenz, the Gravenhurst mayor. Rescued motorists were sent to local shelters, including Gravenhurst Town Hall, at times powered by generators as widespread power outages hit the area.

Hydro One, the provincial utility, reported that the number of customers without power was around 35,000 by Sunday afternoon, down from more than 60,000 earlier in the day.

About nine groups took refuge at the town hall in scenes Lorenz said recalled “Come from Away,” the hit musical based on the experience of a Newfoundland town taking in thousands of airline passengers diverted by the 9/11 attacks.

A local restaurant brought food, while movies were shown on council chamber screens to help entertain kids until hotel rooms were arranged for those who took shelter at the town hall. Firefighters helped act as “sort of chauffeurs” to help get people and supplies where they needed to go, Lorenz said.

“The people here — and I’m sure it sounds like I’m overstating — but they’re remarkable. We have a very caring community,” she said.

The Trillium Lakelands District School Board which runs public school education for students in central Ontario announced Sunday that all of their schools and child care centres in Muskoka will be closed on Monday and classes will not be moving online.

Blowing snow off Lake Huron also overwhelmed communities along the lake’s eastern shores, temporarily shuttering roads and transit operations in some cities. Sault Ste. Marie and Bracebridge, two of the other hardest-hit communities, were both digging out from more than a metre of snow, Environment Canada said.

As the winds shifted, the weather office issued snow squall warnings for a swath of southwestern Ontario on Sunday.

Environment Canada warned that areas around London, the Bruce Peninsula and Collingwood could see more than 30 centimetres of snow by Tuesday.

A winter weather travel advisory was also in effect for a band stretching from around Kitchener to Newmarket, where the forecast suggested between five and 10 centimetres of snow could fall Sunday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 1, 2024.

Jordan Omstead, The Canadian Press