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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHundreds of thousands without power in Ottawa after tornado hits
Hundreds of thousands of people were stranded without power in and around the Canadian capital Ottawa on Saturday after a tornado touched down twice, destroying some houses and ripping the roofs off others.
At the same time high winds also battered the region and Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson said it could be days before electricity was fully restored. At least six people were injured. Its in the top two or three traumatic events that have affected our city, Watson told reporters. It looks like something from a movie scene or a war scene.
The tornado hit on Friday evening, demolishing homes in the town of Dunrobin to the north west of the city before crossing over to the town of Gatineau, which lies directly to the north of Ottawa in the province of Quebec. High winds damaged part of Ottawas major electrical substations and officials said around 200,000 people on both sides of the river were without power. Ottawa and Gatineau together have a population of around 1.3 million people.
We have lost absolutely everything. I have got a beer fridge thats sitting in my garage - that is the only thing that is untouched - but everything else has gone, Ottawa resident Todd Nicholson told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-canada-storm/hundreds-of-thousands-without-power-in-ottawa-after-tornado-hits-idUSKCN1M20TQ
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,869 posts)left-of-center2012
(34,195 posts)csziggy
(34,138 posts)I hope they can get power restored quickly!
left-of-center2012
(34,195 posts)WhiskeyGrinder
(22,448 posts)left-of-center2012
(34,195 posts)WhiskeyGrinder
(22,448 posts)left-of-center2012
(34,195 posts)The_jackalope
(1,660 posts)My neighbourhood wasn't damaged, and power was out around here for 24 hours. The official outage site shows almost 166,000 still without power, with restoration time "Undetermined".
There are two main hydro substations where power comes into Ottawa, one in the east, one in the west. The western one (about 2.5 miles from where I live) was hit hard by either a tornado touchdown or a severe microburst. It has been described by Hydro Ottawa as being "destroyed". This has caused most of the large outages. They are rerouting smaller amounts of power into the city from various sources, but the big substation will take months to restore.
https://hydroottawa.com/outages/info/outage-centre