It's day five of darkness for about 54,700 Toronto residents as they spend Boxing Day waiting for electricity to be restored after a major ice storm blanketed the region over the weekend.
Hydro crews are working around the clock to get the power back on and the number of outages continues to decrease, though some customers may have to wait until the weekend to see their power restored.
Toronto Hydro spokesperson Tanya Bruckmueller was interviewed Thursday on CBC News Network and said about 54,700 customers are still blacked out, down from a high of 300,000 when the storm first hit on Sunday.
A few centimetres of snow fell overnight Wednesday, and the new dusting has slowed efforts to restore power.
"As the snow set it, we saw the numbers go up a bit," said Bruckmueller. "We likely will see the numbers come back down again as crews do their shift change."
Bruckmueller said the restoration effort is now focused on "laterals" — the power lines that supply individual houses. "The last group will be people with damage to wires that supply their house directly," she said.
"It is difficult. We are trying our best," she said. "Many of our crews missed their holidays with their families. We are trying to do our best."
Two adults and two children in Toronto were taken to hospital for suspected carbon monoxide poisoning Tuesday evening. (Tony Smyth/CBC)
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford said forestry crews from other municipalities are helping clear tree debris throughout the city but the clean-up is expected to take as long as six weeks.
Meanwhile, the mayor encouraged anyone without power to go to the homes of friends and relatives who do. If that's not an option, Ford encouraged residents without power to visit one of a handful of warming centres open around the city.
Toronto Hydro CEO Anthony Haines asked that customers be patient as the work to restore power continues.
"We are asking our customers to continue to give us some patience. Soon you will see Toronto Hydro crews on your street, or crews from other jurisdictions that are helping us, and you'll begin to see some of the neighbourhoods being restored," Haines said.
"You won't see the numbers coming down by the thousands, as we did in the early days ... you're going to see them coming down by ones. They are literally going to be one, two, three, four ... We will not stop until the work is done."
Power Stream, which covers the region north of Toronto, reported this morning that 2,500 customers are still down, and Veridian Connections, which serves the Pickering and Ajax region east of Toronto, had about 1,700 outages.
Two children and two adults in east-end Toronto have reportedly been taken to hospital to be treated for carbon monoxide poisoning.
A Toronto Hydro worker surveys the damage on a street near Kingston Road and Victoria Park Avenue in Toronto. (Matthew Sherwood/Canadian Press)
The apartment, at 35 Confederation Dr. in Scarborough, was without power and the occupants were burning coal to keep warm. The extent of injuries is not yet known.
All four occupants — including the children, aged two and three — were brought down dark stairwells from the seventh floor by emergency crews.
Toronto fire Chief Jim Sales says crews are fielding 10 to 12 times the normal volume of carbon monoxide calls.
"It's still a challenge," he said.
"I think people need to hear the message that devices that are made for outdoor use like your charcoal barbecues, your gas-powered barbecues, generators — please keep them outside. I realize and understand the situation, the cold homes, but please do not make your homes more unsafe."
At least two people died of carbon monoxide poisoning in Newcastle, Ont., east of Toronto, on Monday after trying to keep warm with a gas generator in a garage.
The ice storm was among the worst of its kind to hit the city in recent memory.
It left the city's transit system with major problems throughout much of the weekend, particularly the streetcars which were suspended from service for a number of hours on Sunday.
The ice that fell also weighed down the branches of trees, which they fell onto cars, buildings and power lines.
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