Freezing Rain Causes Dozens of Power Outages Across Ottawa

Heavy freezing rain caused power outages for 72,850 homes and businesses earlier this week in Ottawa, Canada. Ice build-up broke dozens of hydro poles, weakened trees and fell branches.

Crews were working to restore power primarily in the central and south areas of the city. Hydro Ottawa's outage map, which is updated every five minutes, shows the location of these power outages. As of 7 a.m. yesterday, the majority of customers had been restored with approximately 1,743 customers still out in pockets of the city. Given the number of separate events and the extent of damage to electrical equipment, power restoration was expected to continue throughout the day and into the evening.

Hydro Ottawa crews worked to restore power initially to large scale outages, followed by smaller ones, keeping safety as the number-one priority amid these icy conditions.