Wind Storm Of ’22 Was Unlike Any Other In Ottawa History

By Charlie Senack

It was a storm unlike any ever seen in Ottawa before, one which topples hundreds of hydro poles and thousands of mature trees.

Rural areas of Ottawa were particularly hard hit, and left without power for five or more days. While damage there was not as severe in some areas, the electrical grid closer to Ottawa was “completely crushed.”

Hydro Ottawa said at its peak close to 200,000 customers were without power, making up about half their base. More than 351,000 Hydro one customers were also without electricity across the province.

Damage to electrical grids was worse than from the ice storm of 1998 or the multiple tornadoes which touched down in the Ottawa region in 2018.

“The 98 ice storm, while we all have nightmares and memories, it was largely in rural and eastern Ontario,” said Hydro Ottawa President and CEO Bryce Conrad. “The city itself was not spared, but it was relatively untouched. There is not a single square inch of our service territory which has not been impacted adversely by this event.”

This storm toppled over more than 200 hydro poles, including 38 on Woodroffe, 21 on Greenbank, and 12 on Merivalehe Merivale substation was destroyed during the 2018 tornadoes, they were able to take supply from other grids. This time Conrad said the damage is four to five times worse.

“There was pole damage down Merivale and Woodroffe, and at the time Barrhaven was completely black, but as soon as we had power returned to the provincial grid, we knew the community would light right back up,” Conrad noted. “In this instance we have supply from the provincial grid, it’s just our own distribution which has been crushed. This is as bad as it gets.”

Conrad said more poles have been taken down than they replace in a year, with crews from the Greater Toronto Area, Kingston, New Brunswick, and the United States coming to the capital offering assistance. At last count over 300 had to be replaced, a number that continues to rise as cleanup efforts continue.

Hydro Ottawa had to rebuild and reconnect half of its distribution centre in days, a task which would normally take months or even a year.

Rural areas such as Manotick, Greely, and Richmond have been particularly hard hit, with much of the communities’ power coming from the Merivale and Woodroffe corridor.

Much of the area is also served by Hydro One which has millions of square kilometres of service territory. Hydro crews worked to restore power in pollinated areas first, meaning places in the outskirts didn’t receive priority.

“Some of the rural areas, Dunrobin and Richmond, the problem there is you have long lines, it’s as simple as that,” said Conrad. ‘It goes from somewhere and goes down three, four, five kilometres to get to residences. Plus you have the same level of debris and damages out there.”

By Thursday afternoon many of the fallen poles had been replaced, resulting in the power coming back on. But even after the lines are reconnected, some roadways could remain closed for weeks.

On Merivale near Viewmount over a dozen poles came down, some falling on top of cars. It also resulted in the street and traffic lights falling over, mirroring a movie scene from King Kong. Other cars were stranded in the ditch, luckily the drivers weren’t seriously injured. The storm resulted in 10 loves lost across Ontario, including one man in Ottawa.

Storm Caused By Downburst

It was about 3:15 pm on May 21 when emergency alerts went off on peoples’ phones. About 29 minutes later the storm hit, leaving a path of devastation behind.

Environment Canada has confirmed the storms were not caused by tornadoes but instead downbursts, also known as a Derecho, a fast-moving and long-lived thunderstorm that causes widespread wind damage.

The storm travelled from Toronto to Ottawa in about three hours. A Derecho hasn’t been reported in Canada since 1999, but could become more common due to climate change.

It’s believed current seasons and weather made the destruction worse, with many trees just finishing their spring bloom and root systems damp.

“It’s the extremely high winds that we’ve had and most of the impacted areas are basically more of mature communities, where we have larger tree canopy, larger trees,” said Alain Gonthier, general manager of the city’s public works department. 

The trees as a result became top heavy, making it easier for them to tumble.

“Had this storm hit a month or a month and a half ago when we had fewer leaves on the trees, the impacts may have been less,” stated Gonthier. “But a lot of trees were really starting to get their foliage. That creates a lot more pressure.”

At its peak wind gusts reached 190 kilometres an hour, resulting in severe damage to St. Monica School in Nepean, where a portion of its roof was blown off. The Ottawa Catholic School Board says the gym received the brunt of the damage.

And just a street over on Capital Drive, roofs of industrial buildings were blown off in sheets, some still having heavy air conditioning units attached.

In Greely, a large portion of roofing from Castor Valley Elementary School in Greely was blown off, a large section of damage over the building’s Library. Much of the debris fell onto an area where administration offices are located, parents say they are thankful it happened on a weekend when kids weren’t in class.

With three major roadways connecting Barrhaven and rural areas including Manotick and Richmond closed, traffic disruptions are expected to continue for a while. Travel in and out of the city is more difficult, people are being urged to work from home and limit travel if possible.

Clean up and damage costs will be covered by the province Premier Doug Ford confirms, and at this time there’s no final tally of how costly the storm was.