DHAKA: Utility crews rushed to restore electricity to hundreds of thousands of people who faced a Christmas without lights after a messy storm downed power lines throughout eastern Canada and from the Midwest to Maine in the US.

Just under 200,000 customers in Canada’s largest city were without power on Monday following a weekend ice storm that wreaked havoc through Ontario to the Atlantic coast, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford said on Monday, The Straits Times publishes this report on Tuesday.

Ford said utility workers from Michigan, Manitoba and elsewhere are in Ontario will assist in the efforts to restore power.

More 100,000 customers had power restored in the city, but about 190,000 customers are still without power, Ford said. He called the storm one of the worst in Toronto’s history.

BDST: 1635 HRS, DEC 24, 2013
Edited by Robab Rosan, Current Affairs Editor