Today, many residents in parts of eastern Ontario and western Quebec are waking up without power that could last for days. Mayor Jim Watson held a news conference on Saturday morning regarding Friday's tornado and wind storm. CEO Bryce Conrad says Friday's tornado and wind storm may be worse than the ice storm of 1998. The Hydro One station on Merivale Road near Island Park Drive, suffered extensive damage, losing 400 megawatts during the storm. If you have power right now, you will not lose it.
Bryce Conrad, CEO Hydro Ottawa says there has been damage to about 80 to 90 poles, so bad Hydro One says they can't quite assess the damage yet. Conrad says the key to restoring power to 147,000 customers across Ottawa is fixing this hydro station in Ottawa.
The hardest hit areas from Friday's storm are Dunrobin, Craig Henry, Arlington Woods, the Hunt Club-Riversode area and the Paul Anka-McCarthy area. Yet officials say there is no need to stockpile and no need to rush out to buy food and resources.
At this time, the Ottawa Hospital says 5 patients have been treated for injuries related to last night's storm. Two of them are in critical condition, one in serious and another two are stable.
Ottawa Police Chief, Charles Bordeleau urges people not to call 911 unless it's a real emergency. He also requests the public stays away from the affected zones and not there to take pictures or more. Bordeleau confirms there has been no civil unrest and no looting at this time.
The City of Ottawa says the east-end of Ottawa is operational.
You are urged to use caution with your candles, already there have been fires due to candles since the power outage on Friday.
As well, the Ottawa REDBLACKS game will go on as scheduled against the Edmonton Eskimos at 4pm.
The Ottawa Airport's power has been restored as of late Saturday morning, OC Transpo is still operating as per usual.
Most shopping centres like Bayshore remains open, The Real Canadian Super Store on Richmond Rd in Westboro is open and operating on a generator. The ByWard Market remains open as well.
