US and Canada Scramble to Restore Power to Half a Million Homes
Death toll from ice storm rises to 27, including many from carbon monoxide poisoning as residents try to heat freezing homes
December 27, 2013
Utility crews from Maine to Michigan and into Canada worked on Wednesday to restore power to more than half a million homes that were left in the dark by last weekend’s ice storm, which has been linked to 27 deaths.
In the United States, the death toll from the storm reached at least 17 on Wednesday, from traffic accidents and carbon monoxide fatalities.
Ten people were reported dead in Canada, including five from apparent carbon monoxide poisoning.
Police said two people in Ontario died after using a gas generator to heat their blacked-out home north-east of Toronto. Police in Quebec said carbon monoxide poisoning was believed to be the cause of three deaths in a chalet on the province’s North Shore. Earlier, five people were killed in eastern Canada in highway crashes blamed on severe weather conditions.
The ice storm last weekend was one of the worst to hit during a Christmas week, and repair crews were working around the clock to restore service.
As temperatures plunged into the low single digits (below -7C) in Toronto, where about 72,000 customers were still without power on Christmas morning, authorities reported a dramatic jump in calls for suspected carbon monoxide poisoning, responding to 110 calls in a 24-hour period. Officials said they typically saw 20 such calls a day.
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