1,700 customers in Ottawa and Gatineau remain without power following Friday’s storm

Approximately 1,700 homes and businesses in Ottawa and Gatineau remain without power for a second day following Friday’s severe thunderstorm that hit the national capital region.
The storm with tennis ball-sized hail, wind gusts up to 70 km/h and heavy rain damaged trees and hydro infrastructure across the region.
Hydro Ottawa says approximately 220 customers are without electricity on Sunday, mainly in the McKellar Heights and City View neighbourhoods.
“We are treating this as a multi-day restoration event throughout the weekend with efforts now focused on restoring power to small areas and individual outages,” the utility said on its website.
The utility initially reported more than 13,000 customers in Ottawa were without power Friday night.
In Gatineau, 1,500 customers remain without power in the Aylmer sector.
City of Ottawa officials say Forestry Staff have been “busy” this weekend clearing debris, and debris cleanup will begin on Monday.
“We have been completing road patrols to identify streets and sidewalks requiring sweeping operations,” Alain Gonthier, general manager of Public Works, said in a memo to Council. Bay Coun. Theresa Kavanagh shared the memo.
“We are also identifying catch basins that may require cleaning to ensure functionality of the system in advance of upcoming precipitation events.”
Gonthier says a small number of parks have damage following the storm, and parks maintenance teams will complete the cleanup this week.
City staff will pickup tree debris from homes this week through the Leaf and Yard Waste Pickup.
“We will continue working safely and as efficiently as operationally possible,” Gonthier said.
“Our focus for this weekend and into next week will be to continue to remove tree debris, identify areas where street sweeping is required and ensure catch basins are free of debris. We are also assessing if a special debris collection will be required, and we will keep you informed.”
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