Province picking up Ottawa’s storm tab

Ottawa’s mayor said the city hopes to have power restored to all residents by Friday as it grapples with the fallout of a deadly storm deemed worse than the 1998 Ice Storm and the 2018 tornadoes. Mayor Jim Watson said at a Wednesday press conference that most residents should have power within the next two to three days. He added that he spoke with Premier Doug Ford Wednesday morning and was assured the province would be picking up the bill for the cleanup. There has been no word on funding for cleanup in the other hard-hit regions.

“He assured me that the full cost of the storm cleanup will be covered by the province. I appreciate that very much,” Watson said.

As of 1 p.m. Wednesday, Hydro Ottawa said 55,000 customers remained without power across the area, with power restored to about 125,000 customers.

There is “extensive damage” to both the provincial transmission system (Hydro One) and Hydro Ottawa’s local distribution system, Hydro Ottawa said.

“We’re making progress on all fronts but road closures and traffic impacts are ongoing due to fallen trees and debris on the roadways. We need to ensure access for hydro and city workers as well as emergency vehicles. We continue to advise residents to stay off the roads if possible,” Watson said.

Bryce Conrad, president of Ottawa Hydro, said more than 250 additional hydro workers are in Ottawa already or arriving Thursday from other parts of the province to help rebuild more than half of the city’s power grid that was destroyed or damaged. Toronto Hydro has sent 26 employees to Ottawa. It’s unclear how long they’ll be there.

“This is by far the most devastating weather event we have experienced to date,” he said, adding he expects the vast majority of customers to be back on the grid by Friday evening.

Jason Pollard, section manager of forestry at the City of Ottawa, said the city has received 2,400 calls from homeowners about downed trees since Saturday, and each call the forestry officials attend generally includes multiple trees. He said it’s too soon to determine how many trees came down, but it is in the thousands.

Reception centres have been set up throughout Ottawa for residents who need to access amenities like washrooms and showers. There are also multiple locations providing bottled water for people who have lost access to well water.

In Toronto, cleanup efforts continue, with the city having received 3,900 storm service requests since Saturday. As of Wednesday, there were a total of 41 crews out with cranes, bucket trucks and ground equipment responding to hazards and clearing roads and trees from hydro lines.

At the peak of the storm, approximately 110,000 Toronto Hydro customers were without power, but they have since restored power to 99.8 per cent of affected customers.

The Toronto District School Board does not currently have any schools closed as a result of the storm. The one school that was affected (A Y Jackson Secondary School) has since reopened.

Toronto residents are advised to call 311 for requests related to cityowned trees or branches that need to be cleared. Residents still need to contact a tree service company for clean up on private property.