Power restored to most after ice storm
A flood warning remains in effect from Otonabee Conservation after 53.3 mm of precipitation Monday
Hydro One has restored power to nearly all of the thousands of customers in the Peterborough area who lost power during the ice storm on the weekend.
As of Tuesday night, 197 Hydro One customers in the Peterborough area remained without power after icy tree limbs fell on power lines during the storm.
Across Ontario about 382,000 customers lost power during the ice storm.
A flood warning remains in effect from the Otonabee Region Conservation Authority for the Otonabee River watershed and the eastern Kawartha Lakes but to the west Kawartha Conservation downgraded its flood warning Tuesday afternoon to a flood watch for the western Kawartha Lakes watershed area.
At the Peterborough Airport, 53.3 mm of precipitation was recorded at the Peterborough Airport between 1 a.m. Monday and 3 a.m. Tuesday alone, according to Environment Canada.
As meltoff from the weekend storm works its way through the Trent-Severn Waterway, Otonabee Conservation expects higher water levels and flows along the shores of the Kawartha Lakes, the Otonabee River and Rice Lake in coming days.
Because of the high volume of storm water entering the plant, the City of Peterborough placed its wastewater treatment plant on secondary bypass mode on Monday, meaning effluent leaving the plant has been given an initial cleaning treatment but not a final polishing treatment.
The city is asking residents to curb water usage as a result. There is no word on how long the plant will remain in secondary bypass mode.
About 100 millimetres of mixed precipitation was recorded at the Ken Reid Conservation Area since Friday morning, according to Kawartha Conservation. By comparison, the normal total precipitation for April in Lindsay is 65.2 mm.
Since much of the precipitation from the weekend ice storm was in the form of snow, ice pellets and freezing rain, about 10 centimetres of wet, heavy packed snow accumulated on the ground throughout the west Kawarthas watershed.
High water levels are expected to continue in the Lindsay area as that snow melts off, Kawartha Conservation, but so far there has only been minor flooding in low-lying area and area with poor drainage and no residential or road flooding has been reported.
All the dams on the Kawartha Lakes are open and lake water levels are below average or average at this time, Kawartha Conservation reports.
The normal high temperature for this time of year in Peterborough and the Kawarthas is 13 C, according to Environment Canada.
But high temperatures in Peterborough have hovered at 7 C or less since the start of the month.
But that will soon change. Highs of 14 and 16 C are forecast for Sunday and Monday in Peterborough and the Kawarthas.