OTTAWA – As of 10:30 a.m. Monday, Hydro Ottawa has restored power to more than 70,000 customers throughout its service territory. An estimated 110,000 customers remain without power.
Hydro Ottawa’s efforts to restore power have been non-stop since the storm surged through the Ottawa region late Saturday afternoon. Hydro Ottawa is managing this from a whole of city perspective given that no single area of the City is unaffected in some manner.
This event is significantly worse than both the Ice Storm of 1998 and the tornadoes of 2018. The level of damage to the distribution system is due to high winds, fallen trees and significant damage to hydro poles.
All available Hydro Ottawa employees, external contractors and other Ontario and out of province utilities have been called in to assist with Hydro Ottawa’s restoration efforts. Currently we have reinforcement crews coming in from our contractors and utility partners from as far away as the Greater Toronto Area, Kingston and New Brunswick.
Given the number of separate events and the extent of damage to electrical equipment, this will be a multi-day restoration effort. After critical institutions and emergency services, power restoration work is prioritized to outages affecting large neighbourhoods with the largest number of customers, followed by smaller areas, keeping safety as the number one priority.
Hydro Ottawa is working with the City of Ottawa to ensure that those affected by extended power outages get the help they need. The City has opened several emergency reception centres. Visit the City of Ottawa’s Emergency Preparedness page for an expanded list.
Safety tips
- Hydro Ottawa asks the public to respect work site perimetres 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.
- Please reserve the use of 911 to situations where there is a risk to public safety, and life-threatening emergencies.
Hydro Ottawa will continue to keep customers and the public advised of the situation via the news media, our website and on our social channels.
Media Contact
Susan Barrett
Manager, Communications
Hydro Ottawa
Tel: 613-738-5499 ext. 2589
[email protected]