Winter storm not as wicked as expected

A build up of ice from freezing rain caused a large portion of an old tree to fall across power lines on John Street South in Aylmer in the early evening of Tuesday, March 1. This photo was taken the next morning shortly after 8 a.m. Erie Thames Powerlines reported that the fallen tree branches had caused a power outage for more than half of Aylmer customers at about 8:30 p.m. Power was restored to most customers, about 1,500, about two hours later. The power remained out for between 200-300 customers who live in the south part of Aylmer near the downed tree until it was restored at about 1:30 a.m. About 15 customers didn’t have their power back on until 3:30 a.m. The winter storm that blew across the region that night included freezing rain and about three centimetres of snow for the Aylmer area and was less severe than weather forecasters had anticipated. But road conditions were treacherous and Elgin County Ontario Provincial Police Constable Troy Carlson said there were 13 collisions overnight after freezing rain began to fall at about 4 p.m. While there were no serious injuries in the crashes and no reports of other damage to the Elgin OPP, Const. Carlson said officers were still “extremely busy” the next morning and multiple sections of Highway 401 were still closed or restricted.