A severe spring storm rolled through Oakville in the early afternoon on Saturday, May 21, 2022, causing widespread power outages and road closures due to fallen trees. Wind speeds reached sustained speeds of 120 km/hr. Halton Police and Oakville Fire Departments provided Oakville Hydro with emergency support as it worked to restore power.
The extent of the damage was first reported by Oakville Hydro at 2:21 PM, as it acknowledged that crews were responding to multiple reports of outages throughout the town. The number of calls received caused our utility supplier technical and logistic issues.
This isn’t good. #oakville #ontstorm #storm pic.twitter.com/1rrt7d86g8
— LAM (@LibandMa) May 22, 2022
However, by 2:59 PM, the town's main power supply issues had been restored. The utility's attention turned to dealing with more localized power outages due to downed power lines by fallen trees. Large established trees were taken down by the extreme storm, including one that closed off east and westbound Lakeshore Road East around Ford Drive in southeast Oakville.
These are just some of the downed trees & #powerlines our crews have been working to clear today #ONStorm pic.twitter.com/Gslsd4AVQW
— OakvilleHydro (@Oakvillehydro) May 21, 2022
One large tree closed off Douglas Avenue in Old Oakville, killing the power to the area. According to Oakville Hydro, at 10:49 PM, the power had been restored to the area, and it started dealing with outages at specific homes.
The clean-up continues, and Oakville Hydro warns the community that they should stay ten metres away from downed power lines and at least three metres away from hanging power lines.
Oakville is an amazing community. Within an hour of our large tree snapping in the storm, neighbours pitched in to help cut it down and make the area safe for the time being. @CouncillorKnoll @MayorRobBurton @PamDamoff. pic.twitter.com/GpPqH2X3x7
— Steven Bright (@brightsteven22) May 21, 2022