OTTAWA – As of 6:30 p.m. just under 34,000 customers remain without power across the city of Ottawa. 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. Restoration is happening in three waves described further below. At this point, our expectation is that power will be restored to all customers by end of day Saturday, April 8.
The continuous accumulation of ice caused by freezing rain resulted in significant damage to trees - and to our equipment and wires. Restoration efforts were slowed yesterday as a result of poor visibility, unsafe conditions including falling trees, branches on overhead wires, and downed power lines. The fog earlier this morning also played a part in delaying restoration activities
Today’s first wave restoration efforts continue to be focused on restoring power by midnight to the majority of customers in 20 larger clusters in the following communities:
- 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
Restoration efforts on Friday (i.e., the second wave) will focus on any remaining customers within the above communities without power and transition to the smaller outages. The objective of the second wave of restoration is to restore power to any and all outages in excess of 10 customers.
Third wave restoration efforts on Saturday will focus on residual outage clean-up and transition to individual outages, including those with damage to their personal electrical equipment which may require Electrical Safety Authority (ESA) permitting.
Extra crews made up of Hydro Ottawa employees, contractors and on-call specialists, such as arborists were on-hand today and will continue to be available through the weekend to support restoration efforts. The full complement of 150 internal and external resources will remain on task pending the full restoration of power to the residents and businesses of Ottawa.
As always, our priority is on repairs that pose serious safety hazards first, and restoring power to critical infrastructure such as emergency services, hospitals, water and sewage treatment plants, schools and larger neighbourhoods of customers.
Hydro Ottawa will continue to post information regarding these ongoing outages on our website, outage map, and on our Twitter account.
If customers do not see their area on the Hydro Ottawa’s outage map, there are two ways customers can report:
- Call our 24/7 outage hotline at 613 738-0188
- Submit a report online through the MyAccount customer portal
Safety tips
- Hydro Ottawa asks the public to respect work site perimeters by keeping a safe distance from crews and as they work on energizing the power grid.
- If customers notice downed power lines, stay at least 10 metres away (the length of a school bus) from the wires and from any objects that are in contact with the lines such as trees. If there is a downed power line, please call us at 613 738-0188.
- Drive carefully. When traffic signals are out, always treat intersections as all-way stops and proceed through intersections with caution.
- As power is being restored, Hydro Ottawa reminds residents to conserve their use of energy and avoid turning on all electronics and appliances to avoid impacting the electricity supply.
- Please reserve the use of 911 to situations where there is a risk to public safety, and life-threatening emergencies.
Media Contact
Josée Larocque
Manager, Media and Public Affairs
Hydro Ottawa
Tel: 613-738-5499 ext. 7496