Hydro outages, downed trees, flying shingles reported amid wind warning in London

The howling wind forced London police to close off portions of a downtown intersection to keep people and vehicles from being hit by flying roof shingles.

Several lanes of Clarence Street and York Street were closed for a period of time after the strong winds pulled shingles off of the roof of Call the Office.

Elsewhere, garbage and recycle bins were found rolling around in the middle of several city streets, while roadways, vehicles, and houses were the resting places for many trees that were felled by the strong gusts. In several areas of the city, traffic lights were found dangling from their respective light standards.

The strong winds also caused havoc for drivers on several area highways. The westbound 401 was closed to traffic around 1:45 p.m. after hydro wires were knocked down onto the roadway. The roadway remained closed as of 6:30 p.m.

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Closer to London, a large grass fire shut down the westbound 401 for several hours near Dorchester. The gusts whipped up the flames and blew thick smoke over both directions of the highway.

Environment Canada urged residents to be cautious in the strong winds and issued wind warnings for much of southern Ontario. The national weather agency ended the warnings for London and Middlesex just before 6:30 p.m.

Wind gusts rose to a peak of 93 km/h at 1 p.m. from 40 km/h at 8 a.m. and declined steadily throughout the afternoon hours.

London Hydro also reported numerous power outages across the city throughout the morning and afternoon. At one point, large portions of the city’s southwest, south, and east ends were in the dark at the same time.

By the early evening, crews were still working to restore power to pockets of east London and old south.

The wind is forecast to settle down by the early evening.

With files from Liny Lamberink and Matthew Trevithick.