Two days after powerful winds tore through Ottawa, cleanup efforts continue across parts of the city, with fallen trees, damaged homes and some residents still without power. The City of Ottawa says it has received more than 500 service requests for downed trees and branches, with Bay, College and Knoxdale-Merivale among the hardest-hit wards. Winds topping 100 km/h sent trees toppling, damaged hydro infrastructure and left thousands without electricity. For Angela Donatucci, the latest storm brought another setback just weeks after her basement sustained water damage during the Canada Day flash floods. A large tree from a neighbouring property came crashing onto the roof of her home Wednesday night. “I opened the curtains and it was just green leaves and I thought ok, this is serious. This is a full tree, it’s not a bunch of bushes or branches,” she said. “I headed to my basement because I had no idea how bad it was going to get.” Donatucci says her neighbours had already applied for a permit to have the weakened tree removed before the storm arrived. “I thought it was less damage until now I see the damage is worse,” she said. “And it’s not your own tree. That’s what’s even harder right now.” Crews from Lance Tree Service were at the property Friday, cutting the tree down piece by piece and removing debris. “I’m already dealing with the insurance deductible and it’s a costly thing,” she said. Tree companies across Ottawa have also been busy responding to calls for help. Lance Tree Service says so far, they’ve received about 100 calls. “Since the storm, we’ve been pretty steady pulling trees off of houses, cleaning up storm damage and helping out our clients in the neighbourhood,” said Scott Taylor with Lance Tree Service. “It never hurts to have an arborist come out and inspect trees and preventative measures, as far as pruning and thinning trees it mitigates the situation for storms.” Down the street from Donatucci, powerful winds ripped away a large section of Kathleen Huang’s roof. “For us, a lot of our shingles, about half our shingles, was completely lifted off the roof. A whole panel flew away,” Huang said. Huang and her family headed to the basement as water poured into the home. “Our whole attic flooded and the damage leaked all the way to the basement, so our house was filled with buckets for a while,” she said. The storm also knocked out power to thousands of customers. In Ottawa’s City View neighbourhood, a tree brought down a power line and, two days later, some residents are still without electricity. “I’ve been in the dark for a lot of days, and I have a generator to keep the water out of my basement because we have sump pumps in this area and ditches,” he said. The City of Ottawa says a special debris collection will begin early next week. Residents with trees or debris too large for regular pickup can submit a service request to the city. “I do anticipate our cleanup to take a little while through this process,” Bryden Denyes, area manager of roads services with the City of Ottawa. “It’s not a huge area, it’s pretty focused in a line through the three main wards but we are seeing damage across the whole city as well due to some of those high winds.” “The other thing too is for residents that are doing their cleanup, they really want to make sure they’re bundling it up, bunching it up, as per our leaf and yard waste collections. They can put it at the curb, and they will be collected through their normal cycle as well.” The Canadian Red Cross also remains available to provide information about insurance claims and other supports. Residents who are still dealing with flooding or downed trees are being encouraged to report the damage through 3-1-1.
