Hydro crews are continuing their work to restore power to those who have been without since an ice storm struck the city early Sunday.

Toronto Hydro said Thursday afternoon that power has been restored to about 82 per cent of customers. About 48,000 Toronto Hydro customers remain without power.

In York Region, approximately 2,400 customers remain without power, PowerStream said Thursday afternoon.

Approximately 12,000 customers in other parts of the province such as Guelph, Orangeville, Bolton, Dundas and Peterborough were without power Thursday night, Hydro One said. Six thousands of these customers have been without power since Sunday, the company added.

The new numbers come as Toronto Hydro warns that a fresh layer of snow and moderate winds could bring down tree limbs already weighed down by ice, causing further outages.

“We can't predict how much more damage will be done as a result of these compromised trees,” Toronto Hydro CEO Anthony Haines said at a news conference at city hall Thursday afternoon.

Haines said Toronto Hydro is moving into the ‘hand-to-hand combat phase’ of the restoration where single trucks will have to deal with very localized issues.

With many people in the dark for a fifth day in a row, Haines said he appreciates that many people are feeling frustrated.

“I understand the inconvenience to your lives when power's out,” Haines said.

Still, he said phone lines continue to be overwhelmed by people calling to check if their power is out.

“We continue to be overwhelmed by calls that are something like ten times our capacity,” Haines said.

He urged people only to call if it appears that there’s a particular problem with their house after power has been restored to surrounding homes.

Mayor Rob Ford also spoke to the growing frustration expressed by many residents who are still without power, saying crews are doing everything possible to fix the outages.

“We can't work any faster than what we're doing,” Ford said. “We're doing everything in our power.”

Ford also said it’s impossible to calculate how the storm will cost the city at this point in time and said the focus right now is making sure power is restored to all residents.

He later attended a BBQ for those without power at a Toronto Community Housing building in Scarborough, where the bulk of the outages remain in Toronto.

Deputy mayor defends Florida vacation

Despite being in Florida for a short visit in the days following last weekend’s ice storm, Toronto’s deputy mayor said that the work of the city never stopped.

“During the entire time I was in touch with the senior staff,” Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly told CP24 Thursday night. “And any constituent or resident of Toronto who contacted me, I contacted them back.”

Kelly, who returned to the city earlier Thursday, said that he felt it was important to spend some time with family members to the south.

“When you have a career in politics, you don’t see family that often,” he said.

Time frame for restoration hard to pinpoint

Hydro One also stressed that the number of affected customers is fluid, with their number of affected customers jumping back up to 20,000 briefly Thursday because of a brief power outage in Napanee.

Hydro One and Toronto Hydro both said the last of the connections would be the hardest to restore.

“The last of the connections are going to take the most time,” Hydro One CEO Carmine Marcello said at a news conference with Premier Kathleen Wynne Thursday.

Wynne also said that crews continue to work with the same urgency despite the fact that many customers have now had their power restore.

Haines also rebuffed the idea that certain communities have been given priority, saying Toronto Hydro works in the order that makes sense in terms of the power grid.

Officials also had high praise Thursday for hydro workers who have been working extended shifts through the holidays to try and bring the power back.

“Those guys and girls are out there giving it their all and they’re not going to stop until everyone’s connected,” Marcello said.

Wynne said crews from 14 hydro utilities from other communities are now working in the province.

She also said a declaration of a state of emergency would not have made a difference in terms of the resources the province has put forward so far.

TDSB childcare centres closed

Parents relying on a number Toronto District School Board childcare centres across the city will have yet another headache to contend with tomorrow, a spokesperson with the board told CP24 Thursday night.

Shari Schwartz-Maltz confirmed that more than 180 locations that were scheduled to be open tomorrow will remain closed until further notice following the weekend storm.

Parents are being urged to check with TDSB childcare operations for further information in the coming days.

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