Canada: Eight dead, 300,000 households without power due to bad weather

The official death toll from the storms that swept through parts of eastern Canada on Saturday doubled on Sunday, cutting power to as many as 900,000 households, especially around the capital Ottawa, with authorities now saying eight people had died, mostly from falls. trees.

An eighth death was reported Saturday in the Utah River, where a woman canoeing drowned when the small boat capsized.

Strong winds, with speeds of 140 kilometers per hour and more, pounded eastern Canada on Saturday, during severe storms of the type called “Derezo”.

The front, originally formed in the United States, was “nearly 1,000 kilometers” from Michigan to Maine, U.S. states in central and northeastern parts of the country, before hitting the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec, he said. Speaking to a local radio station, David Phillips, a meteorologist with the federal Department of the Environment.

“The term ‘Derezo’ is not used often, it is a rare phenomenon,” he said, adding that it was a “long line of storms” coming together.

The federal capital, Ottawa, was hit hard, with thousands of households still in the dark last Sunday night, while roads remained closed due to falling trees or branches and various other objects swept away by the winds.

Crews continued to clean up the road network and restore electricity to the homes of nearly half a million people.

“The last 24 hours have been very difficult,” the mayor, Jim Watson, admitted yesterday, urging his fellow Ottawa citizens to “remain optimistic despite the challenges” caused by the bad spring weather.

Prime Minister Justin Trindade assured that the federal government is ready to help, if requested. “We are thinking of all those affected and we thank the crews who are working to restore power,” he said via Twitter yesterday.

Authorities estimate that it will take up to 24 hours for normalcy to be restored.

300,000 households were still without electricity yesterday, mainly in Ottawa and Laurentid, the two local electricity companies Hydro One and Hydro-Québec said.

SOURCE: AMPE

Source: Capital

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