It was a bad day to be out in the streets Wednesday afternoon as strong winds created havoc and caused multiple power outages in the city.

Environment Canada issued a wind warning for Toronto with winds gusting up to 90 km/hr. It was caused by an Arctic cold front blast that came across the region early Wednesday morning. According to the weather agency, the highest wind gusts recorded at Toronto Pearson Airport were even higher than predicted at 96 km/hr, and reached 98 km/hr at Toronto Billy Bishop Airport.

These high winds played havoc with Toronto’s power grid for much of the afternoon and early evening. At its peak, Toronto Hydro said, about 21,400 customers were without power city-wide. Thousands of customers across the Greater Toronto Area also continued to see power outages over the course of the day.

Toronto Hydro announced Thursday morning that only 110 customers were still without power, saying that crews made “significant progress overnight” and that remaining outages are isolated, and mostly affecting single homes. They said all wires down incidents had been attended to and made safe, and that full power should be restored to all by the end of Thursday.

Hydro spokesperson Tori Gass said calls started to come to their office around 11 a.m. on Wednesday and picked up throughout the afternoon. She said wind caused wires to come down and tree branches also downed some wires. And Toronto wasn’t even the worst hit by the wind storm: Port Colborne in the Niagara Region recorded the highest wind gusts in the province as a result of this weather system, with gusts up to 104 km/hr.

Throughout the day, Toronto police responded to multiple calls of falling and flying debris, scaffolding, glasses and roof shingles, which made for a dangerous walk in the streets.

This included a stretch of Yonge St. between Queen and Shuter Sts. Police closed the area for several hours to both pedestrian and vehicle traffic early Wednesday evening after reports that equipment from a building under construction in the area looked ready to fall. It re-opened shortly after 11 p.m.

Toronto Fire Chief Matthew Pegg told reporters that crews were dealing with 30 to 40 active incidents — such as fallen wires, transformer fires and tree fires — at any one time over the course of the day Wednesday. Heavy urban search-and-rescue teams and Toronto Fire’s marine unit were on standby.

“It’s been a busy, busy afternoon for sure,” Pegg told reporters Wednesday.

In Mississauga, emergency crews were on the scene of a crane that collapsed near Eglinton Ave. and Erin Mills Rd. No injuries were reported.

The boom was bent “in half like an ironing board,” according to Mississauga resident Sandra Benninger.

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The winds are expected to die down in the evening and temperatures to drop to a low of -4 C with a 30 per cent chance of flurries.

On Thursday, it will be mainly cloudy with 30 per cent chance of flurries. Snow will develop in the evening as the temperature dips down to -3 C. The snow will taper off by Friday morning, but flurries will continue for the rest of the day with a high of 2 C.

The sun will peek out on the weekend, but despite its appearance, temperatures don’t look set to warm up. On Saturday, it will be a mix of sun and clouds with a high of 1 C and a 40 per cent chance of flurries. Sunny conditions are also expected for Sunday with a high of 3 C.

Environment Canada is expecting sunny conditions and cool temperatures to persist through early next week.