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The howling wind forced London police to close off portions of a downtown intersection to keep people and vehicles from being hit by flying roof shingles.

Several lanes of Clarence Street and York Street were closed for a period of time after the strong winds pulled shingles off of the roof of Call the Office.

High winds are blowing the shingles of this building on the corner of York & Clarence. City employees are on site, & have Clarence blocked. pic.twitter.com/xQPcdsgjbg — 980 CFPL London News (@AM980News) March 8, 2017

Elsewhere, garbage and recycle bins were found rolling around in the middle of several city streets, while roadways, vehicles, and houses were the resting places for many trees that were felled by the strong gusts. In several areas of the city, traffic lights were found dangling from their respective light standards.

Traffic light at Clarke/Huron got knocked off its pole by the strong winds. Watch for delays. (Jamie Malouin. Taken around 12:15p) #ldnont pic.twitter.com/uUUHd5l5TJ — AM980 Traffic (@London_Traffic) March 8, 2017

AM980 LEXUS OF LONDON TRAFFIC: More damage to #ldnont traffic lights. This time at Springbank and Berkshire. (Melissa Boughner via FB) pic.twitter.com/XY5fcCZUB0 — AM980 Traffic (@London_Traffic) March 8, 2017

The strong winds also caused havoc for drivers on several area highways. The westbound 401 was closed to traffic around 1:45 p.m. after hydro wires were knocked down onto the roadway. The roadway remained closed as of 6:30 p.m.

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Closer to London, a large grass fire shut down the westbound 401 for several hours near Dorchester. The gusts whipped up the flames and blew thick smoke over both directions of the highway.

AM980 LEXUS OF LONDON TRAFFIC: Delays: WB401 approaching Elgin Rd due to large grass fire. Crews on scene. (Photos via @channkentxo) #ldnont pic.twitter.com/uuZYPleSYy — AM980 Traffic (@London_Traffic) March 8, 2017

Environment Canada urged residents to be cautious in the strong winds and issued wind warnings for much of southern Ontario. The national weather agency ended the warnings for London and Middlesex just before 6:30 p.m.

Wind gusts rose to a peak of 93 km/h at 1 p.m. from 40 km/h at 8 a.m. and declined steadily throughout the afternoon hours.

London Hydro also reported numerous power outages across the city throughout the morning and afternoon. At one point, large portions of the city’s southwest, south, and east ends were in the dark at the same time.

By the early evening, crews were still working to restore power to pockets of east London and old south.

AM980 LEXUS OF LONDON TRAFFIC: Some outages remain in the city as of 6:35 p.m. No word on restore times. #ldnont pic.twitter.com/gDADQuvgo6 — AM980 Traffic (@London_Traffic) March 8, 2017

The wind is forecast to settle down by the early evening.

With files from Liny Lamberink and Matthew Trevithick.