Thousands of people in Ontario's Niagara region were still without electricity Saturday after a fall snowstorm Environment Canada describes as of "historic proportions."

"In Fort Erie, there are still about 12,000 customers with no power," said Bill Daley, president of the Canadian Niagara Power Company, which provides service to the area. Service was restored to all but about 800 customers in Port Colborne, he said.

A firefighter makes his way through broken trees and electrical wires in Fort Erie, Ont.
(Nathan Denette/Canadian Press)

The outages continued more than 24 hours after a record-breaking snowstorm roared across Lake Erie into southern Ontario and western New York.

People are asked to be patient and to stay away from downed power lines in an area that received about 30 centimetres of wet, heavy snow.

Daley told CBC on Saturday that critical services such as hospitals, nursing homes and water-treatment facilities were back in business.

"Now, we just need to clear trees from the lines. That will take some time," he said. "The last job for crews will be to repair downed wires running from houses to poles."

A high wind warning issued on Saturday was also a concern, Daley said.

Fort Erie Mayor Wayne Redekop declared a state of emergency after the storm moved in late Thursday, while Daley said it could take crews until Monday to restore power to the entire town.

Some people and businesses in western New York could be without power for a week after the storm dumped about 60 centimetres of wet snow on the Buffalo area.

Tree limbs and power lines came down and more than 340,000 homes and businesses were without power on Saturday.

The snow caused the temporary closure of the Peace Bridge linking Canada and the U.S. early Friday.