Norfolk County issued a “shelter in place” emergency weather recommendation on Saturday afternoon.
“Norfolk County continues to face winter storm conditions, with the most affected area being the southwest — Port Rowan, Long Point, Fairground, Walsingham, Langton and surrounding areas,” said a news release.
The Norfolk County Emergency Control Group is urging residents to shelter in place and avoid all unnecessary travel.
“While we understand that plans for the holiday and your families may be affected, we are recommending this for the safety of our roads staff, the safety of our emergency responders and your own safety,” said the release.
All major routes in and out of Port Rowan were closed on Saturday afternoon. All residents in the southwestern area of the county were facing prolonged hydro outages and obstructed roads with snow, ice and debris that will be impassable until crews can clear them.
Port Rowan resident Amie Trinder Ferris was among residents left without power on Friday night.
“The blowing snow caused a lot of issues last night for those without power,” she said on Saturday afternoon. “Generators kept quitting because snow was blowing in the intake causing them to stop.”
Ferris said they got their generator running Saturday morning and their power was restored at about 1:30 pm
Some parts of Norfolk remained without power late Saturday afternoon. The Hydro One StormCentre reports estimated time of restoration is 11 pm
“We have been hunkered down all day,” she said. “Our neighbors are amazing and have worked together all day to assist with fixing generators, pulling out stuck vehicles on our road and even assisting with a stuck propane truck that was trying to get to a house that was running out of propane.
“There’s a lot of snow here. There are cars in ditches or just stranded in the middle of the road, stuck in a drift.”
Norfolk County staff said those who are able to leave their homes on foot to check on elderly or vulnerable neighbors should do so carefully, wearing full winter clothing and carrying a cell phone.
Norfolk OPP advised drivers to stay off the roads, saying a significant number were impassive due to extremely poor visibility as strong winds blow snow across roads, particularly east of Simcoe.
Hydro One crews resumed work on Saturday after being pulled off the job for safety reasons on Friday night due to the winter storm, police said on Friday night.
Norfolk also pulled snow plow operators off the roads as the county declared a ‘significant weather event’ on Friday night. The crews were out in force on Saturday.
Up to 40 trees remained down on Norfolk roads late Friday as a result of the winter storm that is hitting the county and other parts of the province.
The areas hardest hit by downed trees are in the former township of Houghton, South Walsingham and North Walsingham with most damage west of Highway 59 and south of McDowell Road, Norfolk OPP said in a media release late Friday night.
Sections of some roads are closed due to the downed trees.
Flooding resulted in the closure of some roads in the Port Dover area, said police.
The storm warning from Environment Canada was updated to a snow squall warning for Norfolk County on Saturday.
“Visibility will be suddenly reduced to zero at times in heavy snow and blowing snow,” said Environment Canada.
Officials are urgent people to avoid non-essential travel.
“Blizzard conditions and higher snowfall amounts are possible near Lake Erie as a result of snow squalls,” said the national weather service.
Extreme cold and wind chill are expected to last throughout the weekend. At 4:55 pm Saturday the temperature in Simcoe was -12 C, but with wind chill felt like -19 C, said Environment Canada. Forecast for Sunday calls for steady temperature of about -7C with wind chill near -19C.