Ottawa streets 'became canals' as thunderstorm brought flooding, power outages

A thunderstorm brought heavy rain,hail and power outages toparts of Ottawa Thursday, forcing some people to abandon their vehicles on flooded roads.

Ottawa Police Serviceand Ottawa Fire Services warnedof road closures Thursday afternoonand said theyhad to direct traffic andmovesubmerged vehicles.

Environment Canada issued severe thunderstorm warnings for the Ottawa-Gatineau area earlier Thursday, warning a line of storms could hit the regionfrom around midday into the evening.

The agency lifted the warnings and watches inthe Ottawa-Gatineau region shortly after 5 p.m.

EnvironmentCanada said Ottawa's climate weatherstationrecorded77.4 millimetres of rainfall in the city Thursday, while surrounding regions received between 80 and 110millimetres.

The previous rainfallrecord for Aug. 10 in Ottawacame in 2004, when67 millimetres of rain fell on the city, according to Environment Canada.

As of about 6p.m., Ottawa paramedics reportedno injuries due to the storm.

Road closures include Woodroffe Avenuebetween KnoxdaleRoad and NoriceStreet and MerivaleRoad between Colonnade Road and Woodfield Drive, according to City of Ottawa social media.

People should only travel ifnecessary, Ottawa fire advisedon X, formerly known as Twitter.

Posts on social mediashow streets in the NepeanandHeron Gate areasdeep under water.

Sections ofSt. Laurent Boulevard, Industrial, Smyth and Innes roads andparts of the city's Vanier, Overbrook, Glebe and Rockcliffe neighbourhoods were also affected by flooding, the city said in an email.

Knoxdale-Merivale Coun. Sean Devine said on X hereceivedreports of backed-up sewers causing "street rivers" in Nepean.

In an interview, Devine called the flooding "sobering."

How many times does MotherNature have to slap us in the face before we wake up?- Coun. Sean Devine

"This is just the latest in a series of extreme weather events," he said."Whether it's ice rain, or whether it's tornadoes. Now we havethis kind of flooding. How many times does Mother Nature have to slap us in the face before we wake up?"

River ward Coun. Riley Brockington said on X all City of Ottawa sports fields were closed, and no scheduled games or practices will take place Thursday evening.

In an interview, Brockington said hisward resembledVenice, Italy after the storm hadpassed through.

"The streets became canals with such a heavy downpour," he said. "Our city's rainwater infrastructure could not handle such volumes of water."

Costco saidits store on Merivale Roadexperienced floodingand closed its doorsas workers cleaned up.

A video fromOttawa Sports and Entertainment Group showed a steady stream ofrainfall dripping from the roof of TD Place Arena into plastic buckets on the concrete surface of therink.

Hydro Ottawa reported 24,000 customers without power at the peak of the storm, the City of Ottawa said in an email. A couple hundredcustomers were stillwithout power hours later, according to the Hydro Ottawaoutage map.

The Rideau Valley Conservation Authority advised extreme caution around all water bodies and dam structures in the Rideau Watershed, which drains into the Ottawa River.

"We were in a drought in part of our watershed in early July, and it's just kind of switched 180 degrees to be in a wet spell now," said Brian Stratton, manager of engineering with the conservation authority.

Severe thunderstorms caused"intermittent ground stops" at the Ottawa airport Thursday afternoon, the airport authority said on X.

Some transit stationsflooded or were leaking, including Parliament stationwherewater drippedontoan escalator.

WATCH | Heavy rain causes leak at Ottawa's Parliament LRT station:

Water leaks at Ottawa's Parliament LRT station after heavy rain

1 year ago

Duration 0:29

Following a thunderstorm Thursday afternoon, water was seen dripping onto an escalator at Parliament station.