Windsor & Essex County Ice Storm 2023

windsoriteDOTca News Staff

Wednesday February 22nd, 2023, 9:03pm

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PHOTOS: Ice Storm Damages Trees, Property, In Windsor & Essex County

An ice storm is impacting Windsor and Essex County.

Follow along with live updates (newest updates at the bottom):

Wednesday, February 22nd, 2023

8:55pm: Power is now out to 12,125 customers in the South Windsor area.
8:59pm: Power is now out to 4,671 customers in Riverside.
9:02pm: Hydro One is reporting 104 separate outages in Essex County.
9:04pm: Essex Powerlines now estimates restoration to 4,159 customers in Leamington around 9:30pm. They say the cause is due to fallen trees on primary power lines.
9:10pm: ELK Energy (Essex Leamington Kingsville) says “All crews are dispatched to all service areas affected by outages. Please note communication lines are being affected due to the storm. Please report outages through Twitter. Restoration times are to be determined.”
9:11pm: Windsor Police are reporting a collision in the 500 block of Campbell Avenue. Avoid the area.
9:17pm: Trees and wires are reported down on Little River Boulevard in Tecumseh.
9:20pm: Hydro One is reporting 118 separate power outages across Essex County.
9:22pm: Essex Powerlines now estimates restoration to 4,159 customers in Leamington around 10:30pm.
9:34pm: Readers report power lines and tree limbs down in the 13700 block of Riverside Drive.
9:39pm: Power is now out to 3239 customers in Walkerville.
9:40pm: Power has been restored to a large area of South Windsor, now only 4,721 customers are without power.
9:43pm: Fire crews are on the scene of a blaze at Devonshire Road and Richmond Street.
9:44pm: There are now power outages in most regions of the City of Windsor:
9:48pm: Front Road near Martin Lane in LaSalle has wires down across the road. Avoid the area.
9:51pm: Hydro One is now reporting 129 separate outages across Essex County.
10:00pm: Firefighters are battling a blaze at a house in the 1600 block of Darfield Road.
10:06pm: Power is now out to nearly 6,500 customers in South Windsor.
10:13pm: Power is now out to 12,226 customers in South Windsor.
10:14pm: Crews have restored power to a number of areas in East Windsor including Ford City.
10:15pm: Hydro One is now reporting 143 separate outages in Essex County.
10:19pm: windsoriteDOTca reader Jennifer L. shared this photo of the fire on Darfield Road:
10:23pm: RE: Hydro One outages, from Hydro One: “Hydro One crews are responding to outages in parts of southwest and southern Ontario caused by the winter storm. An estimated time of restoration will be determined for each incident once damage has been assessed. Customers can report their outage by texting 92887 (WATTS), through our outage map and app, or by calling 1-800-434-1235.”
10:32pm: Photos by the excellent local weather spotters group W.E. S.E.E.:

Large branches down everywhere across Essex County. This is some photos from Amherstburg @radiomike519 @CBCWindsor @CTVWindsor #ONStorm pic.twitter.com/spF6B5gO5j
— W.E. S.E.E. (@WE_SEE_) February 23, 2023

10:34pm: Windsor Fire report an investigator is attending the scene of the fire on Darfield Road.
10:35pm: Essex Powerlines reports the outage in Tecumseh is expected to be restored by 11:30pm.
10:39pm: Windsor’s traffic cameras are experiencing severe icing:
10:49pm: Essex Powerlines now says the ETA on restoration for the Leamington outage affecting 4,159 customers is 11:30pm.
10:52pm: South National is closed at Jefferson due to a collision.
10:54pm: Essex Powerlines is reporting a new outage in Amherstburg affecting 2,315 customers. Crews have been dispatched.
10:55pm: Power has been restored to a large part of Riverside.
11:01pm: Power has been restored to large parts of East Windsor including Walkerville where 1300 customers remain without power.
11:22pm: Hydro One is now reporting 189 separate power outages across Essex County.
11:29pm: Enwin Utilities has restored power to much of the area bounded by Tecumseh Road East, Banwell, E.C. Row, and Walker Road.
11:31pm: Power is out again to a large part of Walkerville (3,400 customers).
11:44pm: Essex Powerlines now estimates restoration around 1:00am for the Leamington outage.
11:50pm: Enwin Utilities is warning people about downed power lines: “Due to the inclement weather, downed powerlines may occur. For your safety, please stay at least 10 metres or roughly the length of a school bus away as they can electrify anything they touch.”
11:59pm: Essex Powerlines reports the outage in Amherstburg has been restored (2,315 customers).

PHOTOS: Ice Storm Damages Trees, Property, In Windsor & Essex County

Thursday, February 23rd, 2023

12:24am: Hydro One is now reporting 216 separate power outages across Essex County.
12:52am: Essex Powerlines is reporting a new outage, this time in LaSalle, affecting 234 customers. There’s no ETA on restoration.
12:55am: As of 12:55am, 16,973 Enwin Utilities customers are without power. Enwin has made significant strides to restore power across the city.
1:01am: Environment Canada has issued a Freezing Drizzle Advisory.
1:13am: Power has restored to 234 customers in LaSalle, according to Essex Powerlines.
2:21am: Essex Powerlines has restored power to 4,159 customers in Leamington.
3:56am: Power is out to 133 customers in LaSalle, according to Essex Powerlines.
5:34am: Essex Powerlines is reporting power out to 2,932 customers in Amherstburg.
5:40am: All school buses are cancelled in Windsor and Essex County on Thursday.
5:47am: Hydro One is now reporting 240 separate power outages across Essex County.
5:49am: Enwin Utilities has restored power to many thousands of customers overnight. City-wide, the total number of customers without power sits at 5,958 at this hour, down from nearly 17,000 at 1:00am.
6:07am: Essex Powerlines is reporting an outage in Amherstburg affecting 11 customers.
6:47am: The University of Windsor says they are open today and classes will continue as planned.
6:56am: St. Clair College says all campuses are open and classes are running as scheduled.
7:25am: The following schools are closed to staff and students due to power outages Essex Public, Kingsville Secondary, Lakeshore Discovery, Colchester North, Harrow Public, Jack Miner, Kingsville Public , Malden Central, EAC Kingsville, East Mersea, PASS Amherstburg.
7:28am: The following schools are closed this morning due to power outages: St Mary, St Anthony, Villanova, St John the Evangelist, St John de Brebeuf, Cardinal Carter and Holy Name (elementary in Essex).
8:32am: Essex Powerlines says power has been restored in LaSalle to 104 customers.
8:41am: Windsor Fire says the house fire on Darfield was accidental. Damage set at $80,000.
8:44am: See storm damage photos here.
9:29am: The town of Lakeshore is asking for caution from the public: “The accumulation of ice on trees has also created a hazard in many areas, including other local parks. Although roads are in good condition, residents are asked to stay away from paths with overhanging tree limbs. They should also use caution around icy trees and power lines, which may drop large chunks of ice as the weather warms. Lakeshore staff conducted salting operations and responded to reports of downed trees and branches throughout the night. Crews continue to respond to issues caused by the icy conditions.”
9:49am: The town of Essex has closed municipal facilities: “As a result of power outages caused by the winter storm, Essex Town Hall, the Gesto office, and Harrow Arena are closed until further notice. The Essex Centre Sports Complex, Essex Recreation Centre and Maedel Community Centre remain open at this time.”
9:51am: ELK Energy is reporting a 27kV power line down in Kingsville by Lakeside Park. You’re asked to exercise caution around downed lines and to avoid the area. Crews are on scene to isolate the line.
9:52am: ELK Energy says their crews are on “mandatory sleep time” due to working all night. They say they have reached out to their private contractors to get extra help. Full crews will resume work at 4pm to attempt restoration.
9:55am: Hydro One is now reporting 252 outages across Essex County.
9:56am: Enwin Utilities has continued restoring areas of Windsor. There are now 3,950 customers without power.
10:55am: Enwin Utilities says the storm affected 25,000 customers and 5,000 people are still without power.
11:02am: The City of Windsor is tackling downed tree limbs.
11:32am: Kingsville should be restored except Heritage, Woodlawn and surrounding areas while ELK Energy crews work to restore hydro to the remaining affected areas.
11:55am: ELK Energy says the feeder locked out after 15 minutes and power is now out again to Kingsville.
12:16pm: Lakeshore Town Hall is closed to the public, effectively immediately, due to ongoing telephone and power outages.
12:33pm: Kindergarten Open Houses at most Greater Essex County District School Board elementary schools will proceed as scheduled for tonight (Thursday, Feb. 23^rd) starting at 5:00 p.m.Ten GECDSB elementary schools are being impacted today by power outages and will reschedule their Open Houses:
- Essex Public School
- Kingsville Public School
- Colchester North Public School
- Lakeshore Discovery School
- Harrow Public School
- Jack Miner Public School
- Malden Central Public School
- East Mersea Public School
- Northwood Public School
- Belle River Public School
Kindergarten Open Houses for the schools listed above will now be held on Thursday, March 2^nd.
1:21pm: Hydro One is now reporting 381 separate outages across Essex County. The estimated restoration time for many of the outages is Friday at 4:00pm.
1:28pm: Enwin Utilities is reporting less than 1,800 customers without power at this time, down from 25,000 at the peak of the storm. The University area is currently the largest area without power (447 customers), followed by South Walkerville (343 customers).
1:32pm: The freezing drizzle advisory has ended.
3:04pm: Power has been restored in Leamington affecting 2881 customers.
4:04pm: Power has been restored in Amherstburg affecting 2932 customers.
4:39pm: Approximately 2,100 customers remain without power in Windsor. The largest remaining outages are located in the South Walkerville and University areas; however, additional isolated pockets remain across the city. ENWIN crews will continue to work to correct these issues until they are resolved. However, some outages may persist well into Friday due to the nature of the damages.
9:30pm: There are approximately 518 across the city in isolated pockets. Although crews will remain working throughout the night it should be noted that some outages will persist well into Friday due to the nature of the damage. ENWIN recommends visiting their outage map for the latest updates and for an estimated time of restoration at https://enwin.com/power-outage-centre/

Friday, February 24th, 2023

6:40am: The following schools are closed today due to power outages.
- Colchester North Public School
- Centennial Central Public School
- St Anne High School
- St. Mary Elementary School
- Holy Name Elementary in Essex
Hydro One says they have restored power to 82,000 customers since the onset of the ice storm. Current there are 328 separate areas of outages across Essex County.
Future updates will be in the form of news articles.