A dangerous morning for millions of people including all of Southern Ontario and a large chunk of the northeastern U.S, as far west as Michigan.

This is the work of Hurricane Sandy, which is now a post-tropical storm in southeastern Pennsylvania but in its wake has left downed power lines, fallen trees, vast flooding and death.

Here in southern Ontario the problem was the wind. Millions of people are spending Tuesday morning in the dark with no power and in many cases, no heat.  The most recent count from Toronto Hydro, 45-thousand customers with no power in the city. Toronto Hydro says they are hoping to have things restored as soon as possible but adds that it could take several days before everything has been restored. Hydro One's last count was 90-thousand province-wide but Spokesman Nancy Shaddock says its mostly in the southern half of the province.

Check the Toronto Hydro website for power outages.

Check the Hydro One website for power outages.

Enersource in Mississauga says it has most of the power back up but there are several power poles down along Mississauga Road.  PowerStream is reporting spot outages in several locations throughout York Region.

Crews have been out all night from all the utilities but its been, for the most part, a losing battle as long as the wind is strong.

Environment Canada's wind warning that was in effect from Windsor to Cornwall and up as far north as Barrie and Collingwood, ended shortly after 6 o'clock Tuesday morning. That included the Greater Toronto Area.

We can still expect some strong gusts, but the winds will ease up, down to about 25 kilometres an hour by the afternoon drive home.

And it looks like Sandy played the role of the grinch at City Hall after the Christmas tree that was delivered to Nathan Phillips Square last week was toppled over by strong winds. The city will have to get a new one because the undecorated tree snapped in two.

So far the storm has claimed one life in the GTA.
A woman in her 50's was walking in a parking lot around 7:30 last night in the Keele-St. Clair Area.  A sign from a nearby business came loose and fell on her.  She was pronounced dead on the spot.

Overnight there was an explosion followed by a fire at the Roots store on Queen West near Peter Street. The building has pretty well been gutted in a 3-alarm fire that happened around 12:40 Tuesday morning. The Ontario Fire Marshall's office is investigating.

For anyone planning on flying today, you'll be out of luck if it's to and from the eastern seaboard. Pearson International reporting the cancellation of over 300 arrivals and departures on Tuesday.

Check my flight status at Pearson International

Porter Airlines has cancelled all flights out of and into Newark (EWR), Washington (IAD) and Boston (BOS).

Check my flight status with Porter Airlines.

(Partial files by D. Agar)

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