It looks like parts of Northumberland County going into the sixth day without power following last weekends ice storm.
Parts of Cramahe and Alwnick/Haldimand Township have been without power since Saturday, April 29, 2025.
Hydro One issues a morning and afternoon update regarding the progress of restoring power to areas hit by the ice storm. Unfortunately, Northumberland County isn’t even listed.
The update for Thursday, April 3, 2025 stated that 85 percent of customers have had their power restored but that’s little comfort for ones that are still without.
“Crews continue to discover significant damage as restoration continues.”
As of Thursday, crews have identified 1,826 broken hydro poles throughout the Ontario.
Locally, there are some broken poles spread throughout the County, but they seem to be isolated.
In Colborne, a number of factories are still without power. Ultramar and Tim Hortons have been closed since the weekend.
Some products can be saved, but perishables such as milk products and ice cream have long since been ruined.
The Big Apple is trying to make the best of it with at least one generator.
Working with a skeleton staff, there are lights in the building, but the kitchen area and where staff make the pies has been empty since the power outage.
In Grafton, the Esso station is closed, but thanks to five generators The Lass & Ladle remains open.
Owner Terry Carruthers said there was a lot of scrambling to get generators to remain open.
“There are a lot of staff helping. We’ve lost a bit of stuff, but not terribly bad.”
With 13 freezers at the popular restaurant it took more than a few generators to keep the freezers cold.
Like everyone else effected by the power outage, Carruthers said the most frustrating part is Hydro One keeps changing the time power will be restored.
“We all understand what’s going on to the north of us in Peterborough and Campbellford and the areas that have been hit really, really hard. But the frustrating part here is we keep getting the automated updates that say 6 p.m. tonight, 6 p.m. tonight. We’ve been getting that since Saturday. And then at 6 p.m. it changes to “assessing damage – undetermined.”
Then it goes from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.”
Carruthers said it’s frustrating for everyone.
“Tell me it won’t be back till next Friday and I can make a plan around that. But there is no way to make a plan when it’s like that so it’s frustrating.”
The latest update she received was 9 p.m. on Friday, but late Thursday night people were reporting their hydro had come back on.
“I appreciate what they’re doing and I appreciate there are areas way worse than we are – but I think it’s really hard.”
As a business owner there are many questions including what to order for food for the upcoming days, does she call staff back.
When MPP David Piccini stopped by and asked what he could do, Carruthers said, “get me a realistic expectation from hydro so we know what to do.”
Because initially the updates stated a certain time people didn’t get generators, but now it’s hard to find them.
“I think people would have had more definitive plans.”
On Thursday afternoon, two hydro workers said they were assessing the lines to see what needs to be repaired.
“I’m getting a little tired – but it is what it is.”
Carruthers said the ironic part is, “I did get an e-mail today reminding me I have a hydro bill coming up – not answering that right away.”
| By the numbers – regional breakdown | ||||||
| Operations centre | Restored outages | Number of customers restored (approximate) | Active outages | Number of customers without power (approximate) | Percentage of customers restored (approximate) | Number of seasonal properties (approximate) |
| Fenelon Falls | 210 | 61,229 | 582 | 31,388 | 66% | 5,258 |
| Peterborough (surrounding area) | 200 | 63,636 | 485 | 28,342 | 69% | 3440 |
| Ashburnham (Peterborough proper) | 141 | 80,704 | 126 | 8,989 | 90% | 1 |
| Orillia (surrounding area) | 74 | 32,171 | 486 | 19,648 | 62% | 2,770 |
| Couchiching (Orillia proper) | 41 | 33,318 | 188 | 7,361 | 82% | – |
| Bracebridge | 111 | 32,343 | 176 | 14,387 | 69% | 8,518 |
| Penetang | 144 | 50,446 | 116 | 9,700 | 84% | 4,425 |
| Tweed | 367 | 68,322 | 268 | 9,840 | 87% | 2,256 |
| Minden | 86 | 38,328 | 159 | 8,491 | 82% | 4,979 |
| Barrie | 173 | 46,866 | 221 | 8,533 | 85% | 709 |
| Bancroft | 181 | 32,855 | 118 | 6,290 | 84% | 4,618 |
| Parry Sound | 119 | 57,028 | 53 | 2,515 | 96% | 2,328 |
| Alliston | 169 | 24,846 | 119 | 3,870 | 86% | 146 |
| Owen Sound | 188 | 35,548 | 43 | 877 | 97% | 291 |
| Newmarket | 302 | 41,647 | 149 | 2,158 | 95% | 71 |
| Kingston | 318 | 49,773 | 11 | 274 | 99% | 186 |
| Bowmanville | 191 | 19,061 | 6 | 14 | 99% | 2 |
| Walkerton | 42 | 4,301 | 33 | 713 | 86% | 65 |
| Trenton | 301 | 40,688 | 1 | 16 | 99% | 16 |
| Manitoulin | 42 | 7,840 | 2 | 1,206 | 86% | 430 |
| Essex (active outages as a result of yesterday’s weather) | 18 | 1,137 | 3 | 37 | 97% | – |
| Huntsville | 47 | 18,485 | 12 | 371 | 98% | 200 |
| Perth | 31 | 2,762 | 4 | 1,417 | 66% | 24 |
| Winchester | 19 | 2,328 | 1 | 2 | 99% | – |
| Brockville | 100 | 19,196 | 7 | 791 | 96% | 227 |
| Orangeville | 243 | 17,747 | 21 | 898 | 95% | 20 |
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
