Power out across region in aftermath of Friday's wind storm

Hydro One says crews are dealing with downed trees and working to restore power

A massive wave of power outages has left tens of thousands of residents and early-weekend cottagers in the dark across the Muskoka and Almaguin Highlands regions. High wind gusts rolling through southern Ontario late Friday night have wreaked havoc on the local electrical grid, knocking down hydro poles and leaving heavily forested roadways impassable. According to utility providers, the hardest-hit areas stretch from southern Muskoka up through the Almaguin region, with major pockets of active outages impacting Huntsville, Port Carling, Sundridge, and Haliburton.

Hydro One reports that approximately 90,000 customers are currently without power across the region. The Central Region OPP has issued a travel advisory for the Huntsville area, urging drivers to avoid non-essential travel. Severe wind gusts have downed massive trees across primary and secondary roads, tangled with live wires, and snapped utility poles. Emergency crews are working alongside hydro teams to clear debris so that repair vehicles can safely access damaged infrastructure.

Utility crews have been dispatched across the region, though the sheer volume of individual outages means restoration will be a staggered process. Hydro One anticipates that initial structural repairs will be completed with power starting to return to major lines and urban centers, including parts of Huntsville, by 4:00 PM today. However, due to the challenges of navigating blocked rural roads and repairing heavily damaged secondary lines, some pockets in the broader Almaguin Highlands and isolated Muskoka townships are facing prolonged outages. Full restoration for these trickier rural areas may extend later into the evening or Sunday morning as damage assessments continue.