Tens of thousands of customers are without power and four parts of Highway 401 are closed Tuesday morning as blasts of blowing snow hit the Ottawa-Gatineau area.
There is a snow squall warning for the Outaouais south of Gracefield and a wind warning left over from Monday in southern Prince Edward County about morning gusts up to 100 km/h.
Communities near the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario could see gusts around 80 km/h, according to a special weather statement.
More than 40,000 local customers were without power as of 7 a.m., according to Hydro One, Ottawa and Québec.
Westbound Highway 401 is closed because of crashes from Palace Road to Centre Street in the Napanee area, at Gardiners Road in Kingston and at County Road 2 near Gananoque.
The eastbound 401 is closed from Gardiners Road to Camden East Road because of what Ontario’s transportation ministry (MTO) describes as “road conditions.”
The MTO listed much of Highway 15 and Highway 401 near Kingston as snow-covered, with poor visibility. Parts of highways 7 and 416 were partly snow covered.
This is the scene from Highway 401, west of Kingston, where there have been multiple collisions involving transports. No serious injuries have been reported but the westbound lanes are closed in several locations between Kingston and Napanee. This is in addition to the earlier… <a href=”https://t.co/LBrTZeSNHR”>pic.twitter.com/LBrTZeSNHR</a>
Quebec said the same for highways 5, 50 and 148 in and around Gatineau.
No local school bus agencies cancelled service Tuesday.
