Ice storm locks up Toronto area

Utility officials in the Toronto area said Sunday it could be Christmas before they restore all of power lost to 250,000 customers in an overnight ice storm. More than 90 large outages were reported around the city on the final weekend before the holiday, the Toronto Star said Sunday. Toronto Hydro said in a written statement Sunday morning it could take as long as 72 hours to completely restore power to the city; however, the company cautioned things could get worse before they get better. "Toronto Hydro expects the worst weather is still to come with winds expected to pick up in the morning and into the afternoon," the statement said. "This could result in even more outages across the city." The icy conditions slowed transportation to a crawl. The Star said streetcar service was suspended temporarily due to ice on the overhead power lines and dozens of airline flights were canceled or delayed.