Tens of thousands of customers still without power in Ottawa-Gatineau region

Three days after a powerful freezing rain storm hit the region on Wednesday, just over 45,000 customers are still without power in the National Capital Region. 

As of 5 p.m. Saturday:

• Roughly 900 Hydro Ottawa customers don't have power.

• 18 973 Hydro-Québec customers in the Outaouais don't have power.

• 16,334 Hydro One customers in eastern Ontario don't have power.

Hundreds of thousands of Hydro Ottawa, Hydro One and Hydro-Québec customers were affected in some way by Wednesday's freezing rain. 

Hydro Ottawa said around 225 work crews are working to restore full power to the city's residents and businesses. 

"We continue to expect that power will be restored to all customers by end of day, Saturday," the utility said in a statement. 

As power is being restored, Hydro Ottawa is reminding residents to conserve their use of energy and avoid turning on all electronics and appliances to avoid impacting the electricity supply.

More than 28,000 Hydro-Québec customers in the Outaouais are without power, with tens of thousands of customers also hit hard in other parts of the province, including Montreal, Lanaudière and Laval. 

At a news conference Saturday, Hydro-Québec said it is hoping most households will regain power by the end of the weekend, but couldn't give a precise timeline. Some may stay without power until Monday as about 1,500 workers are on the ground working to restore power lines.

About 1.1 million Quebecers were without power at the peak of the outage Thursday morning

Warming centres open across the region

As people remain without power, facilities are open across the Ottawa-Gatineau region to allow people to charge devices and use the washroom.

The following places are open in Ottawa until 4 p.m. to charge your devices, get bottled water, use the washroom and shower. 

• Dunrobin Community Centre

• Greely Community Centre

• Manotick Community Centre

• W. Erskine Johnson Arena

Almost all other city facilities will be open and can also be used to charge devices or use the washroom, but not all places have showers. 

The Manor Park Community Centre, Rockcliffe Park Community Centre, Ron Kolbus Lakeside Centre and Tennis Centre West Ottawa are closed Saturday due to power outages. 

Tree debris cleanup

Wednesday's storm felled thousands of trees, and as of Saturday morning City of Ottawa forestry crews had handled more than half of the more than 2,250 calls for service that had come in, said public works general manager Alain Gonthier.

People can place tree cuttings, branches and brush at the curb, separate from non-organic waste, and they'll be picked up, Gonthier said in a statement.

Any branches should be tied together with twine in bundles less than 1.2 metres long and 60 centimetres wide. They should also weigh less than 15 kilograms, and individual branches should be less than 10 centimetres in diameter.

Larger tree debris can be taken to the Trail Road landfill and dropped off free of charge, Gonthier said.

Gatineau and western Quebec

In Gatineau, Que., residents can shower, recharge devices and fill up water containers at the following locations: 

• Centre sportif de Gatineau, open until 10 p.m.

• Maison du citoyen, open until 10 p.m.

• Paul-Pelletier Aquatic Centre, open until 8 p.m.

• Lucien-House Aquatic Centre, open until 5 p.m.

The centre communautaire et culturel de Buckingham is also open until 10 p.m. as a place to charge devices and fill up water containers. 

In Western Quebec, the community centre in Cantley, Que., will be open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday. People can charge their devices, access Wi-Fi and take a shower there. 

Three community centres will be open in Val-des-Monts from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Centres in Saint-Pierre-de-Wakefield and Poltimore can be used to warm up, fill up water bottles, use the washroom and charge devices. The community centre in Perkins is the only one that will have showers open to the public. 

In Chelsea, Que., the Meredith Centre is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. People can charge devices, use the wi-fi, fill up water bottles, have coffee, use the washroom and take a hot shower. The main library will also be open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.