Manitoba Hydro workers head to ice-ravaged Toronto

Manitoba Hydro workers are on a charter flight bound for Toronto to help that city in the wake of its ice storm.

The 42 workers are giving up their Christmas break to help restore power to more than 100,000 people in southern Ontario, left in the dark and cold since last weekend's ice storm.

• Ice storm will mean dark Christmas for thousands of Canadians

"The mood here this morning was mixed — so many of these men have left families, young kids," said CBC News reporter Jill Coubrough.

"I met a gentleman who says it's his first Christmas with his new wife, but they are ready to head to Toronto and help. And there's so much pride in that."

​Many of the workers told CBC that if the same situation was being faced by Manitobans, especially on Christmas Eve, they would be thankful for the help of other crews.

​"So they are off and ready and not really sure what they're heading into," said Coubrough. "It could be a dangerous job. There's lots of trees and lots of ice as we know, as we've seen on the news."

"So it's going to be a tricky job and a lot of them don't have any of their gear with them … [but they're] ready to help.

More than 300,000 people were without power at the peak of the storm's aftermath but hydro crews have been working feverishly to restore electricity.

The storm left power wires laden with a coating of ice, pulling some of those wires down. Similarly ice-encased branches have fallen off trees, crashing into and tearing down power lines.