Tens of thousands of homes, businesses in Ottawa and eastern Ontario still without power following storm

Hydro Ottawa hopes to restore power to all homes and businesses in Ottawa by Saturday night, as the clean-up continues following the freezing rainstorm.

Tens of thousands of homes and businesses in Ottawa and eastern Ontario are spending a second night without electricity, after Wednesday's storm damaged trees and hydro infrastructure across the region.

"We experienced one of the most devastating ice storms since 1998," Joseph Muglia, Director of Systems Operations and Grid Automation of Hydro Ottawa, told reporters Thursday morning.

As of 6:30 p.m., just under 34,000 customers across Ottawa remain without power. Hydro One is reporting 97,000 customers without electricity across eastern Ontario, with hard-hit areas in Vankleek Hill, Winchester and Perth.

"We are expecting the situation to continue to fluctuate through the evening and into tomorrow and are treating this as a multi-day restoration event," Hydro Ottawa said in a statement Thursday evening.

"Restoration is happening in three waves. At this point, our expectation is that power will be restored to all customers by end of day Saturday, April 8."

Hydro Ottawa says the restoration efforts will continue in three waves, with power expected to be restored Thursday night to customers in 20 large clusters. Those areas are:

• Casselman
• Beacon Hill
• Beaconwood
• Central Beaconwood
• Findlay Creek
• The Glebe
• Blossom Park
• South Gloucester/Mitch Owens/Edwards
• Carlingwood/Mckellar Park/ Woodroffe Lincoln Heights
• Parkwood Hills/Fisher Heights
• Braemar Park/Bel Air Heights
• Kanata Lakes/Katimavik/Hazeldean/Richmond/Munster-Ashton
• Rideau Glen/Pineglen
• Bells Corners East

The utility says restoration efforts on Friday will focus on any remaining customers within those communities without power, and on areas with outages exceeding 10 customers.  The third wave of restoration efforts will focus on residual outage clean-up and transition to individual outages.

"This is a multi-day event; its slow moving, it's very organic," Muglia said.

"Throughout the day yesterday, we saw a lot of changes we hadn't anticipated, and just because of the weather, the different types of precipitation and what we experienced throughout the day we ended up getting this ice buildup. Rather than things getting better for us they got progressively worse throughout the day."

The storm covered roads, sidewalks, trees and hydro infrastructure with a layer of ice throughout the day, and hundreds of trees have been downed across the region.  Hydro Ottawa says some circuits have as many of 15 trees down on hydro wires.

Environment Canada recorded 38.5 mm of freezing rain, ice pellets and rain at the Ottawa airport on Wednesday, the greatest precipitation total on April 5 in Ottawa history. An estimated 25 to 30 mm of ice accretion was recorded in parts of the Outaouais.

Dozens of schools were closed in Ottawa and eastern Ontario on Thursday due to the power outage, while school buses were cancelled for all schools in the region.

Hydro Ottawa says the continuous freezing rain through the day hampered restoration efforts.

"The continuous accumulation of ice caused by freezing rain resulted in significant damage to trees across the city and to our equipment and wires," Muglia said.

The Hydro Ottawa outage map shows several power outages across the city on Thursday evening.

Hydro One

Hydro One is reporting 97,000 customers remain without power across eastern Ontario, as of 4 p.m. The hardest hit areas include Vankleek Hill, Winchester, Perth and Arnprior.

"As of right now, it's all hands on deck. We have mobilized crews from across the province; we're working alongside contractors to assist with these restoration efforts," Alanna Myles, media relations with Hydro One, told Newstalk 580 CFRA's Ottawa at Work with Andrew Pinsent.

More than 14,000 customers are without power in an area stretching from Kemptville to Winchester.

Myles says Mother Nature should cooperate with restoration efforts today.

"Today's weather conditions are looking favourable for our helicopter, which will help crews identify issues and make those repairs more quickly," Myles said. "We're anticipating to make some great progress today as we move crews into the hardest hit areas; however, due to the severity of this storm, this could take multiple days."

Hydro One crews from southern and central Ontario will be sent to eastern Ontario to assist with the cleanup. The Hydro One outage map lists the estimated restoration time as Thursday or Friday, depending on the area.

"Our crews won't stop until every single customer is restored. We understand how difficult it is to be without power, that's why we're reached out for extra resources and it's all hands on deck," Myles told Newstalk 580 CFRA's Ottawa Now Thursday afternoon. 

Hydro Quebec says 57,000 customers remain without electricity in the Outaouais region of western Quebec. Approximately 25,268 customers in Gatineau are still without power, as of 9:30 p.m. Thursday.

Debris cleanup

City of Ottawa officials say the cleanup from Wednesday's freezing rainstorm will be a "multi-week effort" requiring plenty of resources.

In a memo to council, Public Works general manager Alain Gonthier says the Forestry Services department received over 1,600 requests for service following the storm.

"Reports are coming in from all over the city, but mature neighbourhoods with larger trees appear to have been highly affected," Gonthier said.

"Staff are triaging calls and prioritizing work to address downed trees and broken or hanging limbs that are blocking streets or that may otherwise pose a hazard to residents or property. Staff are also out checking parks and play structures for trees that may pose a risk.

"Once hazards and streets are cleared, staff and contractors will address broken limbs, non-hazardous removals, re-inspections, pruning and brush/wood cleanup." 

Tree cuttings, branches and brush may be placed at the curb for chipping or collection, separate from non-organic waste and tied with twine in bundles.

The city says starting Friday, tipping fees at the Trail Waste Facility will be temporarily waived for residents with tree-cuttings, brush and branches due to the storm.

The Trail Waste Facility is open on Good Friday and Easter Monday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Traffic lights

Twenty-three traffic signals are operating without electricity, as of Thursday afternoon. The city says another 30 traffic signals are running on temporary generators in locations across the city.

Gonthier says no signal poles are down or in need of replacement.

Residents are reminded that a flashing or powerless traffic signal should be treated as a four-way stop.  

City of Ottawa facilities

The following city of Ottawa centres will be open today for residents to shower and charge devices.

• Jim Durrell Centre
• Canterbury Community Centre
• Alexandra Community Centre
• Carleton Heights Community Centre
• Hunt Club Riverside Park Community Centre
• J.A. Dulude Arena
• Bernard-Grandmaitre Arena
• Overbrook Community Centre
• Richelieu Vanier Community Centre
• St. Laurent Complex
• Pat Clark Community Centre
• Eva James Memorial Community Centre
• Jack Charron Arena
• Kanata Leisure Centre and Wave Pool
• Kanata Recreation Complex
• CARDELREC Recreation Complex
• Belltown Dome
• Carlington Recreation Complex
• Meridian Theatre at Centrepointe
• Michele Heights Community Centre
• Pinecrest Recreation Complex 

A full list of recreation and community centres open for the public is available on the city of Ottawa's website. (Some facilities may be closed due to power outages)