School buses cancelled in Ottawa and eastern Ontario as freezing rain hits region

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School buses are cancelled in Ottawa and across eastern Ontario for a second consecutive day, as the region is expected to receive 5 to 10 mm of freezing rain.

Meantime, commuters are being warned to expect delays on OC Transpo buses today due to the freezing rain, especially during the morning commute.

Environment Canada had issued a freezing rain warning for Ottawa, calling for "several hours of freezing rain" through the day. The freezing rain warning ended just after 11 a.m., with the precipitation expected to change between rain and freezing rain.

School buses are cancelled for the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board and Ottawa Catholic School Board. It's a PA Day for elementary schools with the OCDSB.

School buses are cancelled for the following school boards:

All schools are open.

OC Transpo

OC Transpo says the Confederation Line (Line 1) started on time this morning and all stations are open.

Transit riders are being told to expect delays through the day due to the freezing rain.

"OC Transpo and Para Transpo services will operate with caution and service delays are expected," OC Transpo said in a statement on social media. "Plan ahead and be cautious when boarding, exiting, and at station platforms."

Exams

Ottawa's school boards have been forced to reschedule exams for the second straight day due to the freezing rain.

The Ottawa Catholic School Board says exams originally scheduled for Thursday and then moved to Friday, have now been moved to Monday.

"Additionally, we will shift all other exams ahead by one day," the OCSB said. "With this adapted schedule, the first day of exams will revert to Monday, January 29, the second day of exams will be the 30th, the third day of exams will be the 31st, and the fourth day of exams will be February 1."

The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board says all exams and evaluation tasks have been cancelled today for secondary school students.

Exams originally scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 25 will now be held on Monday, and exams and evaluations scheduled for Friday will be moved to Tuesday morning.

Brockville and Cornwall Classes

All classes and on-campus activities for the Brockville and Cornwall campuses for St. Lawrence College that are scheduled to start before 12 p.m. were cancelled this morning. Classes scheduled at or after 12 p.m. are proceeding.

Students are asked to check Blackboard for updates.