Close to 10,000 Alectra customers were without electricity in Barrie Sunday afternoon.
By 7 p.m., Alectra Utilities crews were only dealing with a small number of customers still without power in the south end's Painswick and Tollendal areas, while other outages had been restored.
Alectra was reporting nearly 8,600 customers without power in the southeast end of town, including the areas around Yonge Street, Mapleview Drive East, Big Bay Point Road, Country Lane, Dock Road, Hurst Drive, Minet's Point Road, and Prince William Way.
Shortly before 5 p.m., that number had been almost cut in half to around 4,500 customers in the Painswick area.
Earlier in the day, there was also an outage around the Allandale area that was affecting another 1,300 customers. Some of the streets affected included Bayview Drive, Burton Avenue, Cumberland Street, Dunlop Street West, Essa Road, Innisfil Street, and Lakeshore Drive.
Additionally, 290 customers were without power in the area of Dunlop Street West, Anne Street, Eccles Street South, Henry Street, Fred Grant Square, and Wellington Street West.
A fourth outage affected 132 customers in a north-end neighbourhood around Alliance Boulevard, Cundles Road, and St. Vincent Street.
Emergency crews and hydro personnel were responding to several calls around the city.
"We have power-line and forestry crews working to repair downed lines and tree limbs interfering with equipment," Alectra tweeted around 5:15 p.m. "Crews will continue working through the night to restore all impacted customers. Thanks for your patience."
Meanwhile, Hydro One reported approximately 5,700 customers without power north of Barrie around Midhurst, Craighurst and Horseshoe Valley. Crews had also been dispatched and power was expected to be restored around 6 p.m. There was also another outage affecting around 2,800 customers in the Elmvale area.
By 7 p.m., Hydro One was only reporting a small number of outages outside the city, including around 600 customers in the Shanty Bay area.
In Innisfil, additional InnPower crews were called in due to widespread issues and they continue to patrol and isolate damage so restoration can be completed. InnPower officials asked people to be patient.
InnPower expected power to be restored for approximately 3,200 customers at 6 p.m. However, pockets were still expected where damages needed to be repaired before power could be restored.
South Simcoe police, which handles Innisfil and Bradford, issued an advisory due to multiple traffic lights not working, as well as downed trees and hydro wires blocking roads. Motorists were being urged to treat downed traffic lights as four-way stops and practise extreme caution while driving.
Environment Canada issued a weather alert on Sunday calling for winds of up to 80 kilometres per hour in the Barrie area, including Collingwood, Hillsdale, Orillia, Lagoon City, and Washago.
The strengthening low-pressure system was expected to track across northeastern Ontario, with winds strengthening throughout the day.
"The highest winds are expected to be ushered in with the passage of a cold front late this afternoon, where southwest winds gusting up to 80 km/h are forecast," according to the alert. "Local power outages are possible. Strong winds may toss loose objects or cause tree branches to break."
Winds are expected to ease by Monday morning.
Due to high call volumes and outages across its territory, Alectra says it may not be able to answer your call right away.
To report a power outage, hazard or electrical emergency, click here.
Emergency crews are also handling outages elsewhere around Simcoe County.
In Clearview Township, Fire Chief Roree Payment says nearly all crews busy with wires down calls throughout the township.
"A reminder that downed wires should be treated as live wires and driving over them or getting out to move them could prove fatal," he said in a tweet around 4 p.m.
