Hundreds without power after winter storm blankets Ottawa with snow

A winter storm hit Ottawa and the surrounding areas Friday night, covering the nation’s capital with 20 centimetres of heavy snow and knocking out power for hundreds of customers.

Environment Canada issued winter storm warnings Friday for almost the entire region except for communities along the water west of Brockville, Ont.

On Saturday afternoon, the warnings were called down.

• Ready for more? Another winter storm warning in place Friday night

Here’s everything you need to know as storm cleanup continues: 

Power outages 

Hydro Ottawa have had crews ready to respond to the storm since yesterday, the utility said.  

As of 5 p.m., there were only a few dozen customers in the city without any power, down from several hundred earlier in the day.

Meanwhile, Hydro One crews are still tackling scattered outages across eastern Ontario, with the largest cluster as of late Saturday afternoon occurring near Brockville.

According to their outage map, more than 800 customers there were still without power as of 5 p.m.

An earlier outage near Maberly, Ont., that affected more than 700 customers has since been dealt with. 

As of 5 p.m., there were only about 200 Hydro-Québec customers in the Outaouais who were still without power, down from about 1,700 earlier in the afternoon.

Roads

The City of Ottawa said crews are clearing main roads like Baseline and Bank Street as well as priority sidewalks. Soon, they will be clearing residential streets and sidewalks, as well as bus stops.

Bryden Denyes, a manager with the City of Ottawa’s roads department, said the challenge on Saturday morning was snow and wind filling in areas that have already been plowed.

“It’s becoming a bit more passable out there right now,” Denyes added.

No roads have been closed, city officials said.

In Ottawa, a winter parking ban was issued Saturday for most city streets from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. The city said Saturday evening it would not need to be extended.

Gatineau, Que., has also instituted a winter parking ban. It began at 3 a.m. Saturday and will continue overnight into Sunday.

Ontario Provincial Police told Radio-Canada they had dealt with roughly four dozen collisions in eastern Ontario since 6 p.m. Friday, though none of them were considered serious.

Ottawa police said Saturday they’d received reports of 42 crashes since 10 p.m. Friday.

Public transit

The Confederation Line launched at its normal time and trains were still running as of 5 p.m. Saturday, according to a late afternoon memo sent to council by OC Transpo general manager Renée Amilcar.

Double-car trains may run on the line this weekend, Amilcar said in an earlier memo Saturday — a decision made to ensure OC Transpo’s resources were focused on clearing snow and to simplify overnight operations.

Snow clearing crews were deployed overnight to keep the line and switches clear of snow and ice, and a system to de-ice the overhead wire that supplies electricity to the vehicles is currently in place.

Amilcar also warned in that earlier memo that bus and Para Transpo customers could face delays.

She said in her late afternoon update that those delays did materialize, with some buses getting stuck in heavy snow. 

“Our teams have been working to clear these situations as quickly as possible and the situation has improved,” Amilcar wrote.

“We continue to encourage customers to allow plenty of time when planning their commute as this weather has had an impact everyone on the road.”

On Friday, Amilcar said that out of the 6,000 bus stops across the city, seven bus stops are typically removed from service during a winter storm. 

Those bus stops are located around steep hills or slopes that make traction difficult during bad weather, she said.