FOG BLOG WEATHER LOG: WICKED STORM CALLED 'DERECHO' ACROSS 1000 km TRACK KILLS 10, BIG DAMAGE!

Death toll from Saturday's storm hits 10 across Ontario and Quebec CLARENCE-ROCKLAND, ONT. -

As the death toll related to the powerful storm that swept Ontario and Quebec on Saturday reached 10 on Monday, some of the hardest-hit communities were still working to take stock of the damage.

"It's probably easier for us to count the homes that have no damage, than the ones that have damage," said Clarence-Rockland fire chief Pierre Voisine, while surveying wreckage in nearby Hammond, Ont. on Monday.

The region was hit hard enough by the storm to leave some homes reduced to twisted piles of timber, while downed power lines and broken telephone polls are still blocking streets strewn with debris from uprooted trees and the wreckage of buildings. The scale of the destruction prompted the community, along with the town of Uxbridge, Ont. east of Toronto, to declare a state of emergency.

Hammond resident Mijanou Guibord felt the devastation first-hand when the house she bought brand-new in December was destroyed by the high winds.

"I was sitting in the living room with my dog -- he is a PTSD dog I got to help me after my house before was destroyed by fire -- and I saw a red tin roof flying. I grabbed him by the neck and we ran down stairs," said Guibord on Monday as she looked on at what remained of her home.

"All the windows were smashed in. I yelled out 'help me' from the basement. My neighbour kicked the doors in. The whole house was demolished. My car is still in there."

Dominic Couture, the neighbour who came to Guibord's rescue, said that while his house was only somewhat hit with a large dent on the side, the pickup truck he finished paying off four months ago was crushed. "My truck was parked in the front of the house and I think it flew into the back," he said. "It's a Dodge Ram and it is demolished."

The level of destruction in the area is underscoring how long some of the recovery efforts will take, as hydro providers warn that it could still be days before power is fully restored.

Hydro One was reporting about 185,000 customers were still without power As of mid-afternoon Monday, though service had been restored to more than 380,000 customers.

Across the provincial border, Hydro-Quebec had around 1,500 outages affecting just over 200,000 customers.

Provincial Energy Minister Jonatan Julien held a last-minute news conference Monday morning, saying the goal is to re-establish power to 80 per cent of residents before the end of the day.

Some residents, however, expressed frustration as to how the provider has communicated the restoration plan.

Marie-Eve Cloutier, a pregnant woman who lives in Quebec City, said she spent 25 hours without electricity and was in a constant state of anxiety wondering when power might come back.

She said Hydro-Quebec's website indicated the restoration in her area was a 'work in progress' leading her to believe issues would be resolved more quickly than they were.

"It's not their fault that there's no electricity, or that the work to restore it takes more than 24 hours," Cloutier said on Monday. "It's the lack of communication that was bad."

Hydro Ottawa said it had restored power to more than 70,000 customers as of mid-morning Monday, while an estimated 110,000 customers were still without power.

The utility said the damage is significantly worse than the 1998 Ice Storm and the tornadoes of 2018, adding it has brought in crews from as far as the Toronto area and New Brunswick to assist in repairs.