From downed tree branches to icy hydro lines, cleanup is underway following yesterday’s ice storm that blew across southwestern Ontario.
School buses in zones 1 through 8 serving the Lambton Kent and St Clair Catholic District School Boards have been cancelled for the day because of the conditions. Buses serving the Providence French Catholic board are also not running.
In Chatham-Kent alone, both Hydro One and Entegrus are dealing with a number of outages following yesterday’s ice storm. On the Entegrus side, crews are dealing with outages in Blenheim, Ridgetown, Wheatley, Erieau and Merlin. Hydro One is reporting dozens of smaller outages from Tilbury to Thamesville.
Harwich-Raleigh Public School, Merlin Area Public School, W.J. Baird Public School and Wheatley Area Public School will be closed to students for the day on Thursday, Feb. 23. All other LKDSB elementary schools are open to students. Blenheim District High School will also be closed today and because of power issues, students will not transition to virtual learning. All other Lambton Kent District School Board high school students, regardless of whether they ride a bus to school or not, will engage in one-day remote, teacher-led virtual learning.
At the St Clair Catholic District School Board, St. Anne Catholic School in Blenheim and St. Michael Catholic School in Ridgetown are closed because of the power outage. All other St. Clair Catholic schools and offices are open. Teachers at all schools, except where impacted by power outages, will be available through their learning management systems to provide asynchronous learning for any students who are unable to attend school and who wish to participate.
Officials with the Providence Catholic board say Ste Catherine in Pain Court is also closed.
It’s not clear how long it will be before service can be restored in many areas, although Hydro One has indicated some customers may not have their lights and heat back until mid-to-late afternoon.