Ice storm aftermath: 100 left without power on last day of 2013
New outages happened in the past 12 hours due to falling branches, heavy wind
About 100 Toronto Hydro customers remain in the dark this morning on the last day of 2013 following a severe ice storm that caused a widespread power outage.
However, Toronto Hydro CEO Anthony Haines said it's often two steps forward, one step back.
"We are making great progress, I was just told over 100 customers remain of the original group which is great," Haines said Tuesday afternoon.
"[There have been] about 200 new outages over the last 12 hours... the winds howling — our worst nightmare — branches continue to come down, but all our crews are on the road and trucks absolutely everywhere."
Earlier on Metro Morning, Haines said that the second group of people without power were those customers who had to have repairs done to their homes and were disconnected from the system while the work was being done.
In the west end, Sarah Bolton — who is seven months pregnant — is just happy to be home to ring in the New Year.
"I've been crying," she told CBC News. "It's just 10 days without power."
The brutal ice storm hit southern Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada a week and a half ago, leaving hundreds of thousands of customers without power in cold winter temperatures.
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford said on Monday that he hoped all the power would be restored within the day, but now Toronto Hydro is now hoping to finish the job on Tuesday.
More private-sector donations had been secured to help compensate those who had to throw out food as a result of the outages, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne said.
With files from The Canadian Press