Tens of thousands of people in the Ottawa region remain without electricity as crews work to repair disruptions caused by severe storms that erupted on Saturday afternoon.
The worst affected areas in the region are Hunt Club, Merivale, Navan and Stittsville.
Two emergency response centers in the city open on Sunday.
Carleton Heights Municipal Center of Apeldoorn Rd. and the CARDELREC (Goulbourn) leisure complex in Stittsville was expected to open at 10am
The CARDELREC site was not opened in time due to generator problems, but the doors to the facility opened within an hour.
“We suspect that more will be open throughout the day. We ask people to go to Ottawa.ca for information or the Municipality of Ottawa, Twitter provides as much information as possible, “said Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson.
Carleton Heights offers phone chargers, and CARDELREC will offer power plants as well as showers and snack machines.
More than 350,000 customers in the region initially ran out of electricity on Saturday, and days are expected to pass before power is fully restored.
“The challenge … is that we get our energy from HydroOne, and if it doesn’t go through the system due to broken lines, it will obviously affect our customers, so we try to get as many of our customers back as possible.” said Watson.
As of Sunday morning, Hydro Ottawa said more than 176,500 customers were still without electricity.
“People are disappointed, they want their power to return yesterday, but Hydro tells us it will take two or three days to return online,” the mayor said.
A motorist remains in his vehicle while waiting for crews to make sure they can leave safely after power lines and utility poles fell on their car during a major storm on Merivale Road in Ottawa on Saturday. (Justin Tang / Canadian Press)
Emergency and repair crews worked all night and until Sunday to try to restore power.
“The situation is complex, with significant damage to our city’s infrastructure for both transmission and distribution systems, and we are currently unable to provide estimated recovery times,” Hydro Ottawa said in a statement.
“The crews worked at night and will continue to do so in the coming days. At the moment, we believe that this will be a multi-day recovery effort. Initially, the power supply will be restored with major outages, followed by smaller ones, while maintaining safety as the number one priority. “
On Saturday, more than 100,000 Hydro-Québec customers were in the dark in Outaouais, as well as more than 152,000 Hydro One customers in eastern Ontario.
In Ottawa, winds reached 120 km / h during the storm, according to Environment Canada.
More details about the dead, the wounded
In Ottawa, a man died at the western end of the city, Ottawa police said at a news conference Saturday night. Details are being kept until the family is notified, they said.
Police said on social media on Sunday morning that the 59-year-old man had died after a tree fell on him at the Canadian Golf and Country Club near Stitsville. Another man was seriously injured on a golf course.
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