Thousands of residents are currently experiencing power outages on Thursday morning following a recent series of intense summer thunderstorms in the Ottawa-Gatineau region. The storms swept through the area throughout Wednesday afternoon and evening, with a particularly severe storm hitting some areas with heavy rain and strong winds around 10:30 p.m.
Local residents described the sudden onset of the storm, with one individual recounting how their chimney was damaged by a falling tree. Another resident reported hail measuring between four to six centimeters accumulating on their deck. According to Environment Canada, the Ottawa International Airport weather station recorded 22 millimeters of rain within just 26 minutes on Wednesday night, along with a peak wind gust reaching 107 km/h, the strongest since the May 2022 derecho.
While a severe thunderstorm watch was issued earlier in the day, an official warning was not issued until the storm had already begun. Emergency alerts would have been activated for a tornado warning or a severe thunderstorm warning with winds exceeding 130 km/h.
As of approximately 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, around 6,100 customers in Ottawa and 5,000 in Gatineau were without power. The outages were concentrated in specific areas north of Hunt Club Road in Ottawa and in the Aylmer region of Gatineau. Hydro Ottawa and Hydro-Québec reported significant numbers of customers affected, with more than 25,000 and 20,000 outages respectively. However, Hydro One reported only a minimal number of local outages.
In addition to the recent storm, heavy rainfall was also experienced on Monday, with approximately 24 millimeters recorded at the Ottawa airport. July marked Ottawa’s rainiest month on record, with total rainfall reaching about 282 millimeters, primarily driven by a significant storm on July 1 that continues to impact residents.