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Hydro Ottawa crews to trim trees damaged by July 28 storm

A severe thunderstorm knocked down a tree branch on Fisher Avenue in Ottawa. (Peter Szperling/CTV News Ottawa) A severe thunderstorm knocked down a tree branch on Fisher Avenue in Ottawa. (Peter Szperling/CTV News Ottawa)
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Hydro Ottawa says its crews will be trimming trees in areas heavily damaged by the hailstorm that struck the city last Friday.

In an email to customers, Hydro Ottawa said it would be actively patrolling areas that were badly damaged by the storm on July 28 to find trees or branches that are close to power lines.

"Patrolling crews may perform tree trimming on residential properties and may require access to residents’ backyard in order to access City of Ottawa right-of-ways. While Hydro Ottawa typically conducts tree trimming within a three-metre clearance area of our equipment, in some cases, a clearance beyond the three-metre threshold may be required," the email says.

Hydro Ottawa says it will try to give customers advance notice of any power interruptions that might be required to safely perform the trimming work.

"Given the nature of this work, we may not be able to notify customers in advance. While there may be some larger outages required, most will likely impact 10 customers or less, and therefore will not appear on our outage map," the company says.

A powerful summer storm blew through Ottawa last Friday, knocking down trees and dropping golf ball-sized hail on parts of the city. More than 13,000 Hydro Ottawa customers lost power as a result of the storm.

The city of Ottawa told CTV News on Monday that it had received more than 110 tree-related service calls after the storm. Tree debris is being collected this week.

Some Hydro Ottawa employees represented by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers remain in contract talks with the utility. In a post on its website, Hydro Ottawa says it is making efforts to minimize impacts to customers.

"As crews enter communities to perform restoration work, it is crucial that members of the public follow signage and keep a safe distance away," the post, dated Wednesday, said.

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