Efforts continue to restore power to thousands of Ottawa-area residents

Thousands of people remain without power in the Ottawa region after a severe storm battered portions of Ontario and Quebec more than a week ago.

Hydro Ottawa has managed to restore power to approximately 172,000 customers since the storm on May 21, director of system operations Joseph Muglia told CTV's Your Morning, adding that about 8,000 other customers remain without power.

"Our efforts just continue on today and will continue throughout today and tonight until they're all brought back," Muglia said on Monday.

Although he was unable to provide an exact time for when customers could expect electricity would be restored, he said Hydro Ottawa is working to restore power to smaller pockets of customers in some of the city's harder-hit neighbourhoods.

Each situation is unique and most of the issues crews are encountering involve large, mature trees on power lines, Muglia said.

However, he expects power will be brought back to a "significant" number of customers in the next day or so.

"You get into these areas, everything is down, there's a lot of debris on top, and then of course people are living there," he said.

"They've got their front lawns destroyed, full of stuff, and they just want to get to a cleanup, but the problem is that it's just not safe until we're able to get there and make sure that it's safe before that cleanup can start."

A number of schools in the Ottawa area also remain closed to in-person learning due to the power outages.

As of May 26, 11 people were confirmed dead in Ontario and Quebec because of the storm, most by falling trees.

Environment Canada has described the storm as a derecho, a type of rare windstorm associated with a line of thunderstorms.

It developed near Sarnia, Ont., before moving northeast across the province and into Quebec, toppling trees, downing power lines and damaging properties.

The city of Peterborough, Ont., located east of Toronto, declared a state of emergency on the day of the storm.

Speaking to CTV's Your Morning on Monday, Peterborough Mayor Diane Therrien said there continue to be mild to moderate winds and "widow makers," or compromised tree branches at risk of falling.

"We're still working on getting everybody's hydro back up and running, and then the cleanup effort is sort of where we're gong to be turning our minds to next as soon as we're able to get through that," she said.

Despite the challenges, Therrien has heard heartfelt stories around the community of restaurants offering free food — with some residents having to clean out their refrigerators after being without power for so long — and others who have opened their homes so people can take showers, cook or charge their electronics.

She said city facilities also are open for showers and charging.

"And absolutely, the severity and intensity of the storm and the extent of the destruction that we saw in Peterborough was really wild, and that's one of these issues that's a bigger conversation about climate change and how we work towards climate mitigation," Therrien said.

With files from CTV News Ottawa Digital Multi-Skilled Journalist Josh Pringle and The Canadian Press