THUNDER BAY – Gillies Township has declared a state of emergency over power outages that stretched into a third day Friday following a snowstorm Wednesday.
The township, located 35 kilometres west of Thunder Bay with a population of around 500 people, officially made the declaration just after 10 a.m. Friday.
The dump of heavy, wet snow the area received Wednesday has snarled the electricity grid, with trees and power lines down in numerous areas.
By late afternoon Wednesday, that resulted in over 7,000 Hydro One customers without power.
As of Friday afternoon, there remained just over 2,000 customers without power in outlying areas of Thunder Bay, with a total of 109 outages, according to Hydro One’s outage map.
Gillies Reeve Wendy Wright said no injuries had so far been reported and crews were checking on local residents, but said the declaration would provide assurances as the township faced a hazardous situation.
"It makes it easier to get some external assistance if we need it - we haven't so far, which is great," she said.
Some households have been without power since early Wednesday morning, she said, and the storm had also knocked out cell service for many customers, and caused some emergency vehicles to become stuck.
Seven crews of township staff and volunteers were making their way door-to-door to check on each household in the community, a task Wright said was close to completion Friday evening.
A Hydro One representative said the heavy, wet snow had contributed to particularly significant disruptions from Wednesday's storm.
According to Wright, some power lines were collapsing simply from the weight of the snow, even without downed trees.
Over 200 Hydro One workers, some from as far afield as Dryden and Timmins, were working to resolve the outages Friday, the company said.
Note: This article has been updated with comment from Gillies Reeve Wendy Wright and Hydro One.
