Freezing rain cuts WC power, trees

WEST CARLETON – Today’s (April 5) bottomless buckets of freezing rain have caused power outages and downed trees across the West Carleton community.

Travel was hazardous all morning long, and closer to the afternoon, the weight of the freezing rain was too much for many trees and branches in West Carleton to bear.

Not only was there a variety of precipitation, today’s weather also  brought a rare winter thunderstorm.

“For the first time since April 18, 1985. The Ottawa Airport currently reports thunder freezing rain,” Ottawa weather historian Rolf Campbell said.

By around 4:15 p.m. today, Campbell recorded 22.7 millimetres of precipitation had fallen in the Ottawa area making April 5 “Ottawa’s wettest day so far this year.”

In total, Campbell recorded 38.5 mm in Ottawa today, Ottawa’s wettest April since April 2, 2005 (46.2 mm).

Thunder could be heard throughout the Ottawa Valley as well.

While electricity for Hydro One customers in West Carleton was expected to be restored by 3 p.m. today, more than 3,556 customers in west Ottawa were without power earlier today. Hydro Ottawa reported 7,958 customers in Rideau-Jock, Kanata South, Kanata North, West Carleton-March and Stittsville wards were without power.

Ward 5 Coun. Clarke Kelly said many of those customers were in West Carleton.

Hydro Ottawa crews arrived in the west end just before 1 p.m. to “perform restoration work” which included removing iced up tree branches from power lines. The freezing rain and caused them to buckle under the added weight.

Some West Carleton customers weren’t expected to have power restored until 7 p.m. today.

The weather forced the closure of many businesses and the cancellation of many programs.

The city’s Recreation, Cultural and Facility Services Department leadership team closed all recreation and cultural facilities for the day.

The West Carleton Family Health Team (WCFHT) significantly reduced its hours due to the freezing rain.

“Due to the severe weather, and the staffing challenges and safety concerns for travelling in the weather, we have limited in person appointment availability today (April 5),” the WCFHT released in a statement this morning. “Additionally, if you do attempt to call our staff today you may be directed to leave a voicemail, however, due to very limited on site staff there may be a significant delay in returning your call and it is possible it may not be returned until a later date. For patients who had an appointment scheduled, all providers have reviewed their schedule to provide staff the most appropriate direction and indicated whether to transition appointments to a telephone call, reschedule to another day, or the maintain the appointment as currently booked.  If you experience a medical emergency, we recommend you seek care at your local emergency room. Thank you for understanding and stay safe today.”

The Queensway Carleton Hospital closed its West Ottawa Clinical Assessment Centre.

“The West Ottawa Clinical Assessment Centre is closed for the rest of the day due to bad weather conditions, which caused a power failure,” hospital staff released in a statement around 1 p.m. “Appointments today have been rebooked for tomorrow. Thank you for your patience and understanding and please stay safe today.”

The freezing rain also knocked out Ottawa’s light rail transit. Some passengers were trapped on a train for more than an hour.

“After an hour stuck on the LRT over the bridge, Ottawa Fire Services has finally come to save the day,” social media user Liz posted at noon on Twitter. “They seem to have cut open the fence and lifted us all out.”

Liz claims passengers received no updates from OC Transpo the entire time they were trapped on the train.

Passengers walked to the nearest bus stop, where Liz says she waited 20 minutes for a bus that was packed when it arrived.

Mayor Mark Sutcliffe said the LRT failure was frustrating for him as well.

“Like all Ottawa residents and transit users, I’m frustrated by the disruption in LRT service today during the extreme whether we’ve experienced,” the mayor released in a statement at 3:30 p.m. “OC Transpo is working hard to resolve the issues and restore the service as soon as possible.”

“OC Transpo is focused on restoring service as soon as it is safe to do so,” Transit Services Department general manager Renée Amilcar wrote in a memo to council obtained by West Carleton Online around 5 p.m. “Staff is working with our maintenance provider, Rideau Transit Maintenance (RTM), to inspect and clear ice from the overhead wires and rails across the system. Once inspections are complete, stopped trains will be removed from the line and service will be restored on Line 1. Staff are prioritizing areas of the line to restore service and believe it will be possible to reinstate partial service in the west end of the line later today. Additional sections of the system will be brought back into service as soon as it is safe to do so. Rideau Transit Group (RTG) has begun an investigation into the cause of this disruption and Council will be provided with this information once this investigation is complete.”

As of 7 p.m. Hydro One says there are roughly 4,900 customers without power and estimates it won’t be until 11 p.m. before everyone’s power in West Carleton is restored. You can view the Hydro One Storm Centre map by clicking here.