Highways, 402 closed in southwestern Ont. Saturday with 160 collisions

Provincial police say a major winter storm across Ontario and Quebec has made roads impassable in parts of southwestern Ontario for the second day in a row as drivers continue to find themselves involved in collisions.

The storm that started Friday morning has resulted in more than 160 collisions along highways 401 and 402, the OPP said.

As of mid-morning Saturday, there were more than 10 closures along those routes, including a section of the 401 outside of London, near Colonel Talbot Road, and the ongoing closure of the 402 between London and Sarnia. 

"Officers are extremely busy," OPP spokesperson Derek Rogers said. "We've had four cruisers damaged as our members try to respond and get to people who need help. So really the bottom line is if you do not need to travel today, I would certainly discourage any nonessential travel." 

There have been no serious injuries so far despite the chaotic conditions, something Rogers said is "almost a Christmas miracle." 

County roads continue to be impassable in some areas, with the OPP strongly discouraging drivers from traveling north, where roads remain closed in Grey Bruce, Perth and Huron counties due to blowing snow. 

Chatham-Kent declared a state of emergency Saturday morning saying it's dealing with multiple motor vehicle accidents and hundreds of people stranded. It said multiple vehicles were abandoned on the roads, and it could take days to return them to their owners. 

Cold weather here to stay

The region is in for a cold and windy Christmas Day, but Environment Canada said the storm has shown signs of waning in the area.  

Flurries are letting up slightly, said meteorologist Gerald Cheng, however high winds gusting up to 70 kilometres per hour mixed with freshly fallen snow are still a hazard on the roads inside and outside of the city. 

"If you're traveling on the 401, we are still expecting some poor visibility. We've had 10 centimeters in the area but that doesn't do justice to zones that are getting lake effect snow, especially if you're driving on highway 21," said Cheng. "If you can avoid that highway the better, because we are still getting westerly winds off Lake Huron and that's carrying a lot of snow onto those areas and still looking at almost nil visibility."

Across Ontario, nearly 84,461 Hydro One customers were without power as of Saturday mid-morning. Southwestern Ontario has been spared significant outages with small pockets of areas in the dark.