Dear Neighbour,
I love our community! Over the past couple of days, I have travelled back and forth across College Ward, knocking on doors to check how people are doing, following up on safety concerns, and helping to get people warm food and shelter. Check out the photos below!
And I'm very thankful for the amazing generosity from individuals, businesses, and organizations that we've seen this week.
Just today, Scotty's Corner Diner and FreshCo in Bells Corners teamed up to supply hot soup and buns to residents who visited Bell Arena. And the Ottawa Food Bank and The Mission provided hot meals to the Harmer House seniors residence.
At the same time, managers at IKEA came in on their own time to make 400 hot meals to distribute at Pinecrest Rec Centre and Howard Darwin Arena.
I was grateful to be joined by Mayor Sutcliffe and Councillors Tierney, Dudas, Devine, and Leiper to help distribute food and to perform wellness checks in affected neighbourhoods.
My other big job for the past two days has been to communicate with Hydro Ottawa and let them know how urgently we've needed clearer, up to date information and action.
I truly appreciate the efforts of Hydro workers, who have been out 24 hours/day to restore power - they are all heroes.
Just a reminder that this holiday weekend, please monitor my social media for more updates:
Laine Johnson (@laine_johnson1) / Twitter
Laine Johnson - College Ward | Ottawa ON | Facebook
Warm regards,
Laine
Update from Hydro Ottawa
Hydro Ottawa expects that power will be restored to all customers by end of day, Saturday, April 8. Please note, this situation remains dynamic and fluid.
While the outage map is constantly updated, the estimated times for restoration have proven to be a challenge. In a number of cases yesterday, as restoration work was completed and power was restored, the circuit failed again, resulting in additional efforts on the part of the crews and missed timelines.
Given the damage to the tree canopy and the impact on our infrastructure, this is not an unusual circumstance.
Saturday will focus on any residual outage clean-up, and transition to individual homes and businesses, including those with damage to their personal electrical equipment which may require Electrical Safety Authority (ESA) permitting and additional work.
In some cases, the storm may have caused damage to resident’s home electrical equipment, such as the meter mast and wires connecting directly to the house. If this is the case, then you may need to make repairs (with a qualified electrical contractor) to the equipment before Hydro Ottawa is able to reconnect power.
City facilities available for power, washrooms, warmth
The City of Ottawa is opening the following facilities for the public's use to charge devices, use washrooms, or simply keep warm. Here are some in or close to Ward 8:
- Pinecrest Recreation Centre until 8pm
- Meridian Theatre at Centrepointe
- Nepean Sportsplex
- Howard Darwin Centennial Arena until 8pm
- J.A. Dulude Arena
- Bell Centennial Arena, 50 Cassidy Rd.
Pictures from our neighbourhoods
Serving soup at Bell arena
Crestview youth helping to clear brush from the road
Looking at a storm-damaged tree
Ikea staff donating their time and food for residents
The IKEA team with me, Mayor Sutcliffe, and Councillors Tierney, Dudas, Devine, and Leiper. I'm so grateful for everyone's support.
Thank you Autoedge for providing coffee and a warm place to recharge devices
Scott from Scotty's!
Todd from FreshCo!
Mayor Sutcliffe and I checking on Rossland Ave residents
I’m hearing from a lot of residents who want answers about why flooding happened, and how we can prevent it from happening again. I certainly want those answers as well.