TORONTO -- A storm system is bringing freezing rain across much of Eastern Canada, cutting power to hundreds of thousands of people and wreaking havoc on holiday plans at one of the busiest travel times of the year.

"Winter Storm Gemini carried with it an exceptional amount of warmth and moisture by December standards, and where this air mass slid over a shallow cold layer near the ground, a major ice storm broke out over a long swath from Oklahoma to Ontario to New England," said weather.com meteorologist .

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Utility companies said power outages hit more than 400,000 customers in Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick as crews struggled to restore service. Roads and sidewalks turned into skating rinks.

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is calling it one of the worst storms in the city's history.

The storm has stranded passengers at airports from Toronto to St. John's, Newfoundland, just days before Christmas.

The storm is drawing comparisons to the deadly ice storm that hit Eastern Canada in January 1998 when more than two dozen people died and about 3 million people were without power.

MORE ON WEATHER.COM: Winter Storm Gemini

Jim Ridley uses a flashlight to get his mail Thursday, Dec. 26, 2013, in Litchfield, Maine, where he has been without electricity since Monday's ice storm. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)