NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE IT
Restored power, lower gas prices give locals reasons to smile
By: Derek Howard, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Source: MidlandToday.ca, Apr 01, 2025
Despite a colder day outside, smiles could be had in Midland as residents lined up for cheaper gas and as hydro crews steadily restored power to the area.
The town of Midland released a statement on Tuesday declaring the end to the current significant weather event issued Friday regarding ice storms that plunged roughly 400,000 Ontarians without power, including north Simcoe where power was still being restored as of the time of publication.
Hydro crews had been working diligently on getting electricity to remaining areas, including one crew found in the concession roads near Midland. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” said the ground member of the two-man crew, as the partner in the work bucket overhead nodded. They had apparently been working 16-hour shifts. “This road will take another two hours, maybe three.”
When asked if there was a way that residents could assist the efforts, the bucket worker yelled down: “No, it’s just a matter of plugging away.” Power slowly restored in Midland with traffic lights coming on in several areas, and power restored to the downtown core on Tuesday morning.
Several outlying businesses were operating, some in excess. At midnight on Tuesday, the federal government lifted the consumer carbon charge, resulting in large lineups at the pumps due to a nearly 20-cent drop per litre in prices.
At the William Street Esso gas station, fuel prices were 128.9 for self-serve and 166.9 for diesel. One customer said he had only waited ten minutes in the lineup; it was a traffic jam backup that snarled both lanes on either side with vehicles waiting.
A pedestrian attempting to weave through the bumpers and cross the street offhandedly said: “What a ****-show.”
MidlandToday chatted with Midland resident Ricky, who declined to give his last name, at the pump and asked what the importance was in queueing for the fill. “My wife made me come and get it; she puts it in,” Ricky said with a laugh. “I was out this morning for the banks, and the banks were all closed. She said, ‘Why don’t you go get gas then?’”
The town of Midland issued an additional statement on Tuesday to remind residents about charging stations and warming and relief centres in town. Town hall at 575 Dominion Avenue remained open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., while the North Simcoe Sports and Recreation Centre at 527 Len Self Blvd was open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Coun. Bill Meridis chatted with several residents at the sports facility who were clustered around wall plugs. “The community has been very excellent in coming together; I can’t be more proud of this community,” said Meridis. “We had a full house yesterday, with some of the Sikh community coming in and providing food which is very generous. A lot of businesses have stepped up, grocery stores and so forth, to help out the community.”
While speaking with MidlandToday, smartphones would occasionally ring to inform residents that power in their homes had been restored.
Meridis added thanks to the town’s emergency responses, and to electricity crews from Hydro One and NT Power for their efforts. “I want to especially thank Mayor Bill Gordon for doing a great job on communicating to our residents with updates throughout the outage.”
A special weather alert was issued by Environment Canada for Wednesday morning through early Thursday morning that could see freezing rain with ice accretion of 2 to 5 mm on some surfaces, and potential heavy rains which could amount to 40 mm.