Ontario storms leave widespread power outages

Power remains out in several communities throughout southern Ontario as officials prepare to assess the devastation left by violent thunderstorms and suspected tornadoes that tracked across the province.

More than 21,000 Hydro One customers in southern Ontario remained without power on Friday morning. No estimate was provided on when the power would be restored.

Hydro One estimates suggest that at the peak of the outage period following Thursday's storm, 69,000 customers were reported to be without power.

Meanwhile, "significant progress" has been made in restoring power in the Toronto area, Toronto Hydro said in a news release issued early Friday, but multiple outages are still being reported.

The outages in the city are expected to last "well into Friday," said the release.

"Emergency crews and forestry staff will continue to work around the clock to restore power to customers as quickly as possible," the release said.

Power is being restored to areas with the largest concentration of outages first.

No estimate of the number of people who lost power or of the number of customers still without power was provided.