Two dead after major storm rips through Ottawa
Two people are dead and at least two others are critically injured after a powerful thunderstorm ripped through Ottawa Saturday afternoon.
The storm with wind gusts of up to 120 km/h blasted across the city, knocking down trees and power lines and damaging homes and other buildings.
Ottawa police said Sunday morning a 59-year-old man died after being struck by a falling tree on a golf course on Golf Club Way in Ottawa's west end. The investigation into the man's death continues.
Later Saturday, Gatineau police said a 51-year-old woman drowned after her boat capsized in the Ottawa River near Masson-Angers. Police were working to contact her family Saturday night.
Ottawa paramedic chief Pierre Poirier told reporters that two people were critically injured at golf courses and one person was seriously injured in a car crash.
“We reached a Level 0 during the event, but we are there no longer,” Poirier said, referring to a state when there are no immediately available ambulances.
Ottawa fire chief Paul Hutt said fire crews responded to 500 calls for downed trees, damaged buildings, fires, and downed power lines.
Mayor Jim Watson said the storm affected the entire city.
“We know the storm has touched every corner of our city,” he said. “Many residents are experiencing power outages. City staff have been deployed and are responding. I ask everyone to remain patient.”
As of late Saturday night, Hydro Ottawa reported more than 1,000 outages affecting 179,000 customers.
The city’s emergency operations centre has been activated to deal with the fallout from the storm.
Ottawa police say they are deploying additional officers to the most heavily affected parts of the city to help maintain public safety.
MULTI-DAY CLEANUP
City staff say it could take several days to clean up all of the damage.
Kim Ayotte, the city’s general manager of emergency and protective services said this storm, while brief, had a massive impact.
“The sheer area that’s been affected is like nothing I’ve seen in my memory,” he said. “We expect cleanup from the storm to take several days.”
Joseph Muglia, director of system operations and grid automation for Hydro Ottawa echoed Ayotte’s comments.
“We haven’t had a hit like this since the tornadoes,” he said. “This is different because this is so widespread across the city.”
Hydro Ottawa’s outage map shows scattered outages across Ottawa. Muglia said about half of Hydro Ottawa’s customer base has been affected.
“Not only do we have local distribution issues, we’ve got issues with the provincial supplier, a loss of supply to city,” he said.
Hydro One is also reporting tens of thousands of customers without power across eastern Ontario.
Across the river, Hydro Quebec reported 121,000 customers without power in the Outaouais region.
“More than likely, this will be a multi-day event,” Muglia said. “We’re restoring where possible but that will depend on the provincial supplier and replacing downed poles. This is a challenging event.”
Muglia said crews would be working through the night, though most efforts would be focused during daylight hours when it’s safer.
TREES TORN UP
The storm ripped trees out by the roots as it blew across the city. A wind gust of 120 km/h was recorded at the Ottawa Airport at 3:30 p.m. The 4 p.m. weather update included a gust of 113 km/h. Ottawa police had asked residents to shelter in place as the storm hit.
Ottawa police said Saturday evening that a barn in the west end was destroyed, and many people had been trapped in vehicles due to live wires on roads throughout the city, including 40 drivers on Woodroffe Avenue. Police responded to gas leaks on St. Joseph Boulevard and Presland Road. Downed power lines across Highway 174 near Trim Road forced police to close the eastbound lanes to traffic.
One tree fell on a person at a golf course, Poirier said, adding this person was one of the two people who were critically injured.
Trees also fell on cars and buildings throughout the region.
Watson said he had heard from many city councillors that residents were out helping each other after the storm.
“I appreciate the good neighbour approach,” he said.
Ayotte also encouraged residents to check in on neighbours and loved ones if it was safe to do so.
Due to outages, the O-Train Line 1 LRT was offline. Transit customers took R1 buses instead. General manager of transit services Renée Amilcar told reporters the O-Train draws on electricity from various sources across the city. By Sunday morning, the O-Train was fully operational again.
The severe thunderstorm warning for Ottawa ended at around 4:40 p.m. and a severe thunderstorm watch ended by 4:50 p.m.
Weather radar showed that a storm with very heavy rain moved northeast from Michigan and into southern Ontario late Saturday morning, passing through London, Kitchener-Waterloo, and Toronto, hitting Ottawa at around 3:30 p.m. By 4:30 p.m., the strongest part of the storm had moved northeast into Quebec.
The storm claimed at least eight lives across Ontario, including one in the Madawaska area and two in Ottawa.
OTTAWA FORECAST
After the storm moved out of the region, the temperature dropped 12 degrees from 30 C to 18 C, before ticking back up a couple of degrees late in the afternoon.
The weather forecast for Ottawa includes clouds overnight, bringing a chance of showers and a risk of a thunderstorm with a low of 14 C.
Sunday’s outlook is cloudy with a high of 18 C and a chance of showers in the afternoon.
The forecast for Victoria Day Monday is partly sunny with a high of 18 C.
- with files from Colton Praill, CTV News Ottawa
STORM IMAGES
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
There's actually no such thing as vegetables. Here's why you should eat them anyway
The rumours are true: Vegetables aren't real — that is, in botany, anyway. While the term fruit is recognized botanically as anything that contains a seed or seeds, vegetable is actually a broad umbrella term.
'It looked so legit': Ontario man pays $7,700 for luxury villa found on Booking.com, but the listing was fake
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
The Met Gala was in full bloom with Zendaya, Jennifer Lopez, Mindy Kaling among the standout stars
The Met Gala and its fashionista A-listers on Monday included Jennifer Lopez, Zendaya and a parade of others in a swirl of flora and fauna looks on a green-tinged carpet lined by live foliage.
3 Indian nationals accused of murdering Hardeep Singh Nijjar facing court in B.C.
Three Indian nationals accused of murdering Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar are due to face court Tuesday over the killing that triggered a major diplomatic rift with India.
Israeli forces seize Rafah border crossing in Gaza, putting ceasefire talks on knife's edge
Israeli tanks seized control of Gaza's vital Rafah border crossing on Tuesday as Israel brushed off urgent warnings from close allies and moved into the southern city even as cease-fire negotiations with Hamas remained on a knife's edge.
Canadian cadets rock mullets and place second at U.S. military competition
Sporting mullets, Canadian Armed Forces officer cadets placed second in an annual military skills competition in the U.S.
Highlights from the 2024 Met Gala exhibit: Sleeping Beauty would wake up for these gowns
Sure, she was a royal princess and all. But there’s no way Sleeping Beauty — either before or after her nap — ever had quite the fabulous wardrobe that’s been assembled at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Noelia Voigt resigns as Miss USA, citing her mental health
Noelia Voigt, who was crowned Miss USA in November 2023, has announced she is resigning from her role, saying the decision is in the best interest of her mental health.
Putin begins his fifth term as president, more in control of Russia than ever
Vladimir Putin began his fifth term Tuesday as Russian leader at a glittering Kremlin inauguration, setting out on another six years in office after destroying his political opponents, launching a devastating war in Ukraine and concentrating all power in his hands.