More than 200,000 still without power in the Ottawa-Gatineau area
Wednesday's freezing rain was the worst ice storm since 1998, Hydro Ottawa says
Tens of thousands of customers remain without power in the National Capital Region Thursday after what Hydro Ottawa described as the worst ice storm in the area since 1998.
- 53,000 Hydro Ottawa customers don't have power.
- 90,000 Hydro Quebec customers in the Outaouais don't have power.
- 82,000 Hydro One customers in eastern Ontario don't have power.
Overall, about 270,000 Hydro Ottawa customers were affected in some way by Wednesday's freezing rain, said Joseph Muglia, Hydro Ottawa's director of system operations and grid automation, at a 10 a.m. news conference Thursday.
About 53,000 of them remained without power as of 3 p.m.
The company expects its 20 worst outages — affecting about 45,000 customers — to be resolved by noon, Muglia said.
Smaller outages will take an unknown number of days to get to, and Hydro Ottawa is working with the city to get people in those areas what they need.
"This is a multi-day event, I want to stress that. ... It's slow-moving, it's very organic," Muglia told reporters.
"Yesterday, we experienced one of the most devastating ice storms since 1998. We've had ice storms since then, as recent as 2017-2018, but nothing, nowhere near what we saw yesterday."
Still working on major storm resiliency, preparedness
Repair efforts were slowed down by lightning and falling trees and branches that made conditions too unsafe for crews, Muglia said.
As of Thursday, a full complement of workers is on the ground, supplemented by contractors and staff from other jurisdictions.
The ice storm comes not quite a year after the powerful May 2022 derecho wind storm, which caused the worst damage Hydro Ottawa had seen across the city in decades. Since then the utility has been working on its storm preparedness and resiliency, and Muglia said that will continue to be a big focus throughout 2023.
"We're all seeing that these major events, that are supposed to be like 100-year storms, are happening a month apart or three months apart. And so it's been a very quick learning curve for us to make sure that we've got our resilience in place, our people are able to be refreshed and get ready for the next storm.
"So we're working on that. We're working on our infrastructure, we're working on our storm hardening."
Meanwhile, across Quebec, more than one million Hydro Quebec customers were without power Thursday, including 90,000 in the Outaouais.
MRC des Collines police said that 95 per cent of residents there are still without electricity.
In Hydro One's east Ontario region, about 82,000 customers had no power Thursday, according to its online outage map. The Arnprior, Perth and Winchester areas were particularly affected.
Schools
In Ottawa, all school transportation has been cancelled, but schools that have power remain open.
The Ottawa Catholic School Board said 20 of its schools are closed Thursday because they have no power:
- Lester B. Pearson High School
- St. Brother André
- Thomas D'Arcy McGee
- Notre Dame High School
- Holy Cross
- St. Daniel
- St. John XXIII
- St. Rita
- St. Bernard
- St. Catherine
- St. Emily
- St. Jerome
- St. Leonard
- St. Monica
- Holy Spirit
- Our Lady of Peace
- St. Michael (Corkery)
- St. Michael (Fitzroy)
- St. Stephen
- St. Philip
The Ottawa Carleton District School Board said the following schools and EDP programs are closed Thursday:
- Agincourt P.S.
- A. Lorne Cassidy E.S.
- Bell H.S.
- Bells Corners P.S.
- Blossom Park P.S.
- Broadview P.S.
- Colonel By S.S.
- Crystal Bay
- Elizabeth Wynwood
- Glen Ogilvie P.S.
- Goulbourn M.S.
- Henry Larson E.S.
- Henry Munro M.S.
- Huntley Centennial P.S.
- Kanata Highlands P.S.
- Kars on the Rideau P.S.
- Le Phare E.S.
- Manor Park P.S.
- Manotick P.S.
- Metcalfe P.S.
- Munster P.S.
- Nepean H.S.
- North Gower P.S.
- Osgoode P.S.
- Osgoode Township H.S.
- Pleasant Park P.S.
- Robert Hopkins P.S.
- Sir Winston Churchill P.S.
- Steve Maclean E.S.
- Vimy Ridge P.S.
Algonquin College announced it's open Thursday after closing Wednesday afternoon.
Elsewhere in eastern Ontario, the following Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario schools are closed Thursday due to power outages:
- Sacred Heart in Lanark
- Holy Cross in Kemptville
- Iona Academy in Williamstown
- Pope John Paul II in Hammond
- St. Francis Xavier CHS in Hammond
- St. Jude in Vankleek Hill
- St. Michael CHS in Kemptville
- St. Patrick in Rockland
And the following Upper Canada District School Board schools are without power and closed Thursday:
- Winchester Public School
- Nationview Public School
- Russell High School
- Oxford-on-Rideau Public School
- Kemptville Public School
- South Branch Elementary School
- North Grenville District High School
- Pleasant Corners Public School
- Vankleek Hill Collegiate Institute
- Laggan Public School
- Glengarry District High School
- Char-Lan District High School
- Williamstown Public School
- Avonmore Public School
- Tagwi Secondary School
- Rideau District High School
- South Crosby Public School
- Maple Grove Public School
- Drummond Public School
- Montague Public School
- Beckwith Public School
- North Elmsley Elementary School
Conseil des écoles catholiques du Centre-Est said the following schools are closed Thursday:
- Bernard-Grandmaître
- Garneau
- Franco-Ouest
- La Vérendrye
- Sainte-Bernadette
- Saint-Guillaume
- Saint-Joseph d'Orléans
- Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau
The Conseil des écoles publiques de l'Est de l'Ontario says the following schools are closed Thursday:
- Charlotte-Lemieux
- Gabrielle-Roy
- Michel-Dupuis
- Nouvel Horizon
- L'Odyssée
- Rivière Rideau
- Séraphin-Marion
- Le Sommet
- Maison de la Francophonie
These Conseil scolaire de district catholique de l'Est ontarien school are also closed:
- St. Joseph's Catholic Elementary School in Wendover
- Saint-Victor Catholic Elementary School in Alfred
- Elementary SchoolSt. Gregory in Vankleek Hill
- Saint-Jean-Baptiste Catholic Elementary School in L'Orignal
- Rosaire Catholic Elementary School in Saint-Pascal-Baylon
- Saint-Mathieu Catholic Elementary School in Hammond
- La Source Catholic Elementary School in Moose Creek
- St. Joseph Catholic Elementary School in Russell
- Elda Rouleau Catholic Elementary School in Alexandria
- L'Ange-Gardien Catholic Elementary School in Lancaster North
- Plantagenet Catholic Secondary School, including the intermediate pavilion in Plantagenet
- CSDCEO central office in L'Orignal
All transportation for the Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario and the Upper Canada District School Board has also been cancelled, but schools with power remain open.
All schools are closed in western Quebec, and some boards and service centres, such as the Western Québec School Board, say staff should work remotely. The Centre de services scolaire au Cœur-des-Vallées said classes are cancelled.
As always, it's best to check with your board, service centre or school about what your specific options are.