Thousands of residents are facing power outages on Thursday morning following a series of powerful summer thunderstorms in the Ottawa-Gatineau region. The storms swept through the area throughout Wednesday, culminating in a particularly intense one around 10:30 p.m.
Ann Weatherdon described the sudden onset of heavy rain and strong winds, resulting in her chimney being destroyed by a fallen tree near Merivale Road and Meadowlands Drive. Nearby resident Travis Hartley recounted experiencing hail accumulation of about four to six centimeters on their deck during the storm.
Environment Canada’s meteorologist, Peter Kimbell, reported that the Ottawa International Airport weather station recorded 22 millimeters of rainfall in just 26 minutes on Wednesday night. The station also registered a peak wind gust of 107 km/h, the strongest since the May 2022 derecho event.
Although a severe thunderstorm watch was issued earlier in the day, a warning was not issued until the storm was already underway. Kimbell acknowledged the delayed warning and highlighted that emergency alerts would have been triggered for a tornado or a severe thunderstorm with winds exceeding 130 km/h.
By 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, approximately 6,100 customers in Ottawa and 5,000 in Gatineau were without power. The affected areas were mainly around Woodroffe Avenue and Merivale Road in Ottawa and the Aylmer region of Gatineau. Hydro Ottawa reported a peak of over 25,000 customers without power, while Hydro-Québec noted more than 20,000 outages in Outaouais.
Furthermore, there were minimal power outages reported by Hydro One in the area. Recent rainfall measurements at the Ottawa airport indicated nearly 24 millimeters of rain on Monday, adding to the record-setting rainy month in July.