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“We’re winning the war,” Toronto Hydro CEO Anthony Haines declared Monday, even though 215,000 homes and businesses were still without heat and light across the city by mid-afternoon.

And some of those estimated 538,000 people could still be in the cold and dark until past Christmas and into the weekend, Haines warned.

“We haven’t seen any event like this in Toronto.”

Elsewhere across the GTA, 16,000 customers in York region, 9,000 in Pickering, 3,000 in Brampton, 1,200 in Burlington and 110,000 rural Hydro One customers shivered through another day without electricity.

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Crews working through the night and morning restored power to 85,000 homes and businesses in Toronto, he said. But frustrated and chilled hydro workers, many who abandoned Christmas holiday plans, saw some of their repairs undone as fixed lines “came unfixed” by falling trees and heavy ice, he said.

That eased up by Monday morning. “We’re seeing some very positive outcomes in our restoration efforts,” said Haines.

“Every few minutes, another feeder if coming back up,” representing thousands of customers, he said.

He said it was impossible to predict when everyone might have their power restored, despite the extra crews coming in — including one worker who retired Friday and was back at work Saturday.

“Plan for the worst and hope for the best,” said Haines, whose own home was without power.

“Now it’s our time to ask for help,” he said as Toronto Hydro called in favours to U.S. crews it helped during Hurricane Sandy.

While Hydro knew about 100 feeder lines still down by 8 a.m. Monday, “we haven’t had a chance to go down each and every street” to determine every place without electricity.

The worst hit parts of the city roughly followed the line of Highway 401, Haines said, but he cautioned the full extent of the damage in Scarborough wasn’t clear yet.

“The ice has not melted,” Hydro One CEO Carmine Marcello warned at a midday Queen’s Park briefing. “Any drop in temperature and those trees will come down.”

Temperatures were expected to keep falling to a low of minus 10 overnight and reach only a high of minus 9 on Tuesday and minus 5 on Wednesday. Overnight lows on Tuesday were forecast to be minus 15.

The city opened nine warming centres across the city for those without light and heat by morning and added police stations and police headquarters to the list of shelters by early afternoon.

Dozens of warming centres were created throughout the GTA at community centres, firehalls and police stations, authorities said.

“The Red Cross is assisting the city of Toronto in the warming centres and overnight we had 10 warming shelters across Toronto and 323 people who came to those shelters overnight,” said Karen Snider, media manager for the Red Cross.

“The Red Cross moved in supplies last night. We moved in cots, blankets, hygiene kits, just a simple kit with things like soap, shampoo, toothbrushes, things that people might forget when they are leaving so they can freshen up a little bit.”

She also said they are providing warm meals and water.

Toronto Hydro described the ice story as‘far worse than imagined.” Forestry crews were brought in to help cut up and move massive tree limbs littering streets and roadways.

“We believe the worst weather is over,” Mayor Rob Ford said. “It’s business as usual here at city hall. We are not declaring a state of emergency. If the province wants to help out, we are happy to take it.”

He rebuffed suggestions he should have declared a state of emergency, saying the 2013 ice storm was far less severe than a hurricane or the Quebec ice storm.

Declaring a state of emergency would transfer power to Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly and would require the province to provide help. Kelly said on CP24 “there is a considerable feeling” a state of emergency should be declared.

Councillor Denzil-Minnan Wong said that the city is talking to the province, which has already provided help with “policing issues,” especially on Highway 401. The province has also been asked to help clear fallen trees and branches.

Toronto East General Hospital was back to full power Monday morning and Sunnybroook Hospital was expected to be by the afternoon, Ford said. About 72 Toronto community housing buildings were without power at noon and tenants were being ferried to warming centres, staff said.

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Asked whether Toronto could have better prepared for a storm of this magnitude, Ford replied, “It's hard to prepare for Mother Nature.”

Toronto Hydro has been taking specific measures to combat climate change, such as more aggressive tree pruning and sturdier lines, Haines said. The storm “would have been worse” if not for those measures.

Toronto Fire Services has received about seven times the normal volume of emergency calls, and has had to put out a number of fires started by people heating their homes by “unconventional means.”

About 300 Hydro One employeed cancelled their Christmas vacations to join the huge repair operation, Marcello said.

“This is a massive effort with a great deal of work going on around the clock. Employees are working 16 hour days in very dangerous conditions,” he said.

Crews from Peterborough and Simcoe County arrived in Vaughan Monday to help with repair work, city officials said. From a peak of 92,000 homes in York region, Power Stream had restored electricity to all but 16,000 by Monday afternoon, the company said.

GO Transit Sunday night announced an adjusted winter storm schedule on Monday, providing additional train and bus service for customers on routes that include Lakeshore East and West, Milton and Richmond Hill.

Full streetcar service resumed late Sunday with some delays and some bus routes were cancelled because of road conditions, including the Davisville, Rosedale and Yonge Street buses.

More than a dozen other bus routes were on diversions because of icy roads and blocked streets.

The Sheppard subway line remained out by midday Monday but closed stations on the other lines had reopened.

The Scarborough RT line was to be back in operation by late morning, said TTC chief Andy Byford. . Shuttle buses were trying to ferry passengers in the interim.

Several flights in and out of Pearson International Airport scheduled for Monday were delayed or cancelled, with officials asking passengers to check their flight statuses with their airline and give themselves additional time.

All Toronto, Toronto Catholic, York, Durham Catholic and Peel District School Board facilities, including child-care centres, were closed on Monday and Tuesday, as were a number of YMCAs in the region.

York University rescheduled Monday’s exams until Jan. 11.

Toronto Zoo also remained closed; the Science Centre was open. Canada Post said the mail would be delivered Monday and asked people to salt or sand their walkways for the letter carriers.

A special weather statement remains in effect for the City of Toronto, with moderate winds and colder temperatures expected over the next few days.