What you need to know about the holiday storm that hit eastern Ontario, western Quebec

Developments as of Mondaymorning:

• The City of Ottawa lifted its declaration of asignificant weather event, while the City of Kingston extended its own.
• Police have reopened roads in Prince Edward County.

The wave of winter weather alertsthat passed through Eastern Ontario startingThursday evening and intoSaturday night hasended.

With the storm havinglargely passed through the region, here is a list of things you need to know going into Christmas Day,includingutility outages, road conditionsand updates from municipalities.

Latest weather forecast

According toEnvironment Canada on Sundaymorning, the storm whichhitthe region Thursday evening has largely dissipated, leavinga chance of flurries and some local blowing snow depending on where you live.

The agency saidflurriesand local blowing snowcould continue in Ottawa right through Christmas Day. Wind gusts up to 60 km/h will make it feel like -17 C Sunday morning and -11 Sunday afternoon. Skies will be mainly cloudy but are expected to clearnear midnight and temperatures will drop to -19 overnight.

• If the power or data on your device is low, get your storm updates onCBC Lite.It's our low-bandwidth, text-only website.

Blizzard warnings that had been inplacefor Kingston, Ont.,Brockville, Ont., andsurrounding areas throughoutSaturday had been lifted by Sunday morning.

Kingston declared a significant weather event Friday,and the designationremained in effect as of Monday morning.

Lake effect snow hit the region Saturday, leaving behind awhite but messyChristmas.

Highways in the region

As of around 9 a.m. ET Sunday, Highway 417 from Ottawa to the Quebec borderhad been reopened in both directions.

Thatstretch of highway had been closed or partially closed since 11 a.m. Saturdayafter athree-vehicle collision.

A towingcompany operating in the area ofCasselman, Ont., a village off the 417 southeast of Ottawa, hadinformed people that itcouldn'tprovideimmediate assistance due to dangerous whiteout conditions, said Genevive Lajoie, the mayor of Casselman.

"The situation is dire right now," she said Saturday afternoon. "People should stay home."

Casselmandeclared a state of emergency Saturday evening and extended it Sunday to last untilthe roads are cleared.

Conditions on Highway 401 improved overnight Saturday.Shortly after 10 a.m. Sunday, OPP said the entire highway across eastern Ontario from the Quebec border to Quinte West had been reopened.

The OPP said in an update Sunday afternoon thatalthough major highways had reopened, cleanup efforts were ongoing.

"We are not out of the woods yet," Sgt. Kerry Schmidtsaid in a video posted to Twitter. "As it gets dark, as the wind continues to blow, we're asking people to stay home and wait until the roads are completely plowed, cleared and salted."

Highway 401 from NorthumberlandCounty to the Quebec border had beenofflimits Saturday afternoon due to unsafe driving conditions, the OPP said.

From Friday night to Saturday morning, 35 vehicles were left in the ditch betweenMallorytown, Ont., andGananoque, Ont.,because they couldn't be towed, OPP said.

OPP officers were staged at the Mallorytown ONroutestationSaturday to help stranded motorists and recover stuck vehicles, policesaid in a tweet.

As of Saturday, more than 500 collisions had been reported in Ontario, including more than 250in the eastern region, according to the OPP. There were also multiple crashes on Highway 416 and Highway 417.

As of late Saturday afternoon,one traffic fatality had been reported in Essex County near Windsor.

Roadsin Prince Edward County reopened Monday morning. The OPP saidmajor routes had been cleared but urged people to drive with caution asnot all roadways had been plowed.

All roads in the countywere closed by police Friday night and remained closed Saturday evening because of "zero visibility and poor road conditions," OPP said.

For updates on closures and reopenings, check the Ministry of Transportation's traffic account here.

Planes and trains

Hundreds of passengers were trapped on Via Railtrains between Windsor, Ont., and Qubec City from Friday night into Saturday.

Shortly before 5 p.m. on Saturday, Via Rail said all passengers had reached their final destinations.

Nine trains had beenimmobilizedSaturday due to extreme weather conditions, according ViaRail. Numerous passengers told CBC they werestuck onboard for up to 20hours with few updates fromstaff.

Due to a derailment involving a CN Rail train, Via said all of its remaining trainsscheduled to run between Ottawa and Toronto, and Montreal and Toronto would be cancelled on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.You can check the departures for Via Rail in case the storm affects travel times.

"From power outages to trees on the tracks and even a tree falling on a locomotive, conditions make it impossible to move some of our trains," a statement from Via Rail read.

Via Rail said passengers who were stuckon trains 55, 59, 69, 669, 79, 48, 54, 68 and 668will be provided a full refund.

Some Sundaydeparturesand arrivalsout of the Ottawa airport have beendelayed orcancelled, so make sure to check the airport'swebsite before heading out the door.

WestJetcancelled 140 flights at five airports in Ontario and Quebec, affecting flights at Ottawa International Airport on Friday.

Hydro outages

As ofabout 3 p.m.Sunday, Hydro-Qubec was reportingmore than 4,000customers in the Outaouais experiencing outages, down from nearly 15,000Saturday afternoon.

Hydro Ottawa, meanwhile,was reporting nooutages throughout the day Sunday.Their crews hadrestored power to more than 100,000 customers from when the storm began Thursday night, a release said.

Utilities Kingston saidit had restored power to its entire service area shortly aftermidnight Sunday.

More than 1,000 customers in eastern Ontario communitieswere still dealing with outages Sunday morning, according to Hydro One's outage map.

Municipal updates, parking bans

The City of Ottawa lifted its declaration of asignificant weather event shortly after 12 p.m.Monday. The rare designation had been in place sinceThursday.

Garbage and recycling collection is not expected to be impacted at this point.

A winter weather parking ban for Ottawa endedat 7 a.m.Saturday, though the city is asking people to stay off the roads as much as possible. The City of Gatineau hasalso lifted its overnight parking ban, though it too would like people not to park on the streets to letplows work.

The City of Kingston extended its own declaration of a significant weather event Monday. As of Monday morning, an overnight parking ban remainedin place in Kingston.

• Here is the latest on the winter storm wreaking havoc across the country

The City of Ottawa said it has expanded its shelter services for people experiencing homelessness.

The hostel at 75 Nicholas St., the Jim Durrell Arena and the Dempsey Community Centreare open toanyone who needs to warm up during the weekend.

Outreach teams will also be working to make sure people have cold-weather gear and help connect them to shelters if they need.

Residents who see someone out in the elements that may need a place to stay are asked to call 311.

With the storm coinciding with the holidays,many other city programs and facilities would have been closed regardless on Sunday.