Ottawa family business hit hard by powerful storm

Some residents are cleaning up the damage caused by Tuesday night’s thunderstorms in Ottawa that knocked out power to thousands. CTV’s Katelyn Wilson reports.

A powerful storm that ripped through Ottawa Tuesday night left thousands in the dark and one family business in Greely picking up the pieces after losing its roof.

Albion Glass & Aluminum took a direct hit from fierce winds clocked at up to 90 kilometres an hour, according to Environment Canada.

The storm peeled back the roof of the building, scattering debris across the property and knocking out power.

“I was shocked at first. There’s a lot of debris everywhere. I didn’t realize the roof was gone until after I came around the corner. There was no power, the power was out,” said owner Tony D’Angelo.

• Hydro crews working to reconnect customers across region after storm causes widespread outages

Fortunately, no one was injured, and a response crew was on site quickly. The family says they’re still assessing the full extent of the damage.

“We were genuinely so surprised this happened,” said his daughter and executive assistant, Anna-Maria D’Angelo.

“We were expecting some trees to come down, maybe a few of our new ones—not the roof.”

The violent storm knocked out power to more than 23,000 customers in the Ottawa area, and thousands more across eastern Ontario and Quebec.

While Hydro Ottawa says most power has since been restored, pockets of the city remain in the dark as crews continue cleanup and repair work.

Across the region, torrential rain, fierce winds and even hail snapped trees and downed power lines.

In Barrhaven, the strong winds blew down Trish Camfield’s fence.

“At one point, our neighbour across the street here, we could not even see his car the rain was coming down that hard and the wind was blowing so hard we actually thought we need to stay away from the windows,” said Camfield.

Hydro Ottawa says all power is expected to be restored by the end of the day.