Keep an eye out for the wicked witch

September 22, 2018 6:53 AM

EF-2 tornado rips through Canada's capital. 170,000+ people without power in Ottawa-Gatineau, six people hospitalized. Damaged projected to be worse than the crippling ice storm of 1998.
posted by Mitheral (26 comments total)

Ontario tornadoes are always kind of shocking because of their rarity but there have been big ones. An F4 tore through Woodstock, Ontario in 1979 killing 3.
posted by srboisvert at 7:34 AM on September 22, 2018 [1 favorite]

Yikes. The photo of the hail is horrifying.
posted by rtha at 8:03 AM on September 22, 2018

I was driving home through the edge of it yesterday night. We only lost power for a little bit, but HydroOne has multiple towers down in the west end. Several friends are without power for the next few days. Estimates now are around 250,000 w/o power.

Thankfully, this is a pretty warm fall, and we're not in the depth of winter like the ice storm. Today is a sunny day with a high in the mid teens.

Here's a video from a woman who was caught in her car near the centre of the big touchdown in Dunrobin (from /r/Ottawa). This was estimated to be an F3 or so.
posted by bonehead at 8:31 AM on September 22, 2018 [7 favorites]

Hydro is reporting 150,000 customers w/o power this morning, but some will have to wait until early next week before service is restored.
posted by bonehead at 8:36 AM on September 22, 2018

Here's a video yt from a woman who was caught in her car near the centre of the big touchdown in Dunrobin

Holy shit.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 8:56 AM on September 22, 2018 [2 favorites]

Yeah, a transformer station was busted.

We didn't lose power at all other than a couple of flickers (we're in centretown) but a block or so away some traffic lights are out so it seems pretty localized. Lineup out the door at Timmys though.

I did end up running home from the bus in rain so heavy it soaked through my jeans immediately, and there were 6 inch puddles in places. Luckily my laptop made it home unscathed.
posted by quaking fajita at 8:57 AM on September 22, 2018 [7 favorites]

We lost power for a while so I didn't realize at first how lucky we were. No damage around my area but it came close enough to see wind movement I've never seen before, including tons of small debris swirling/floating, weirdly gently for being so high in the air. I was just in the backyard watching until the rain came - it wasn't particularly violent in my area, just very weird, so I didn't even think to be scared since we get so many tornado warnings but haven't gotten a damaging one in my lifetime. So scary to think that the storm could easily have touched down closer to my house.
posted by randomnity at 10:45 AM on September 22, 2018 [2 favorites]

Some more footage and this one starts with a skyline time lapse of it blowing in.

Man. Speaking as someone who LOVES watching heavy weather, there's a time to watch and a time to get the hell away from that window.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 11:11 AM on September 22, 2018 [6 favorites]

Heh. I slept through it.

I was planning on driving to the GTA after work but I'd slept badly the previous night and was feeling really tired so I decided to get in a nap beforehand. So I drove home (to Nepean, from Kanata) and noticed that some of the stoplights were out on the way there. The power was completely out at home but took my nap and headed toward Toronto. Getting to the highway took a while (no stoplights) but I didn't head about the actual Tornado until I got to talking with a guy in line when I stopped for dinner.

Since Benoit Mandelbot hasn't updated yet, that probably means my place doesn't have power.
posted by suetanvil at 11:50 AM on September 22, 2018 [2 favorites]

We've been trying to run errands in the south end today without much luck. Power is out in almost all of the south end today. Stay off Hunt Club if you can.
posted by bonehead at 12:14 PM on September 22, 2018 [1 favorite]

The 307 between Cantley and Hull is also bad. No traffic lights, hydro crew blocking some of the road fixing felled lines, and a fresh accident as well, as of half an hour ago. I went in to the city to leech some wifi to feed my Internet habit while the power was down. Just got home and it's back up but I've already drunk too much cider to do anything useful in catching up with work from yesterday.

Unusually for a power outage, which are not uncommon at this particular address, the power came back on in one go without any false starts; maybe they've finally fixed whatever was causing the line under-voltage that's been screwing with my electric furnace the past two years.
posted by sfenders at 12:31 PM on September 22, 2018 [4 favorites]

My parents are driving cross- country this weekend and breezily texted that they’d “missed the storm” in Ottawa. Ignorant of the situation, I glossed over that remark.

I have got to start fact-checking their texts...
posted by wenestvedt at 12:46 PM on September 22, 2018 [6 favorites]

[checks volt meter] Holy cow, they really did it. And all it took was a little tornado.
posted by sfenders at 12:51 PM on September 22, 2018 [3 favorites]

Here's a video yt from a woman who was caught in her car near the centre of the big touchdown in Dunrobin

Holy shit.

Particularly when you notice she pulled over next to a couple of gas tanks.
posted by srboisvert at 1:36 PM on September 22, 2018 [6 favorites]

Still around 15,000 subscribers out of electricity on the Quebec side. Luckily I'm not one of them.
posted by Monday, stony Monday at 3:47 PM on September 22, 2018 [2 favorites]

Particularly when you notice she pulled over next to a couple of gas tanks.

Sure, but those are probably more dangerous as projectiles than as a danger of fire or explosion.
posted by thelonius at 4:59 PM on September 22, 2018

Pieces of pink fiberglass insulation are scattered all over my neighbourhood today. One of the neighbours is having their roof repaired - maybe the source of the insulation, or maybe it's from further away. The insulation was probably most of the debris I saw flying around during the storm. Pretty surreal, even without the kind of damage that happened elsewhere in the city.
posted by randomnity at 6:01 PM on September 22, 2018

I didn't even think to be scared since we get so many tornado warnings but haven't gotten a damaging one in my lifetime

Yeah, this. I got an alert on my smartphone on the bus, and I thought ho-hum. I meandered over to my sister's place in the Merivale area, and less than an hour later, it starts coming down in buckets, scary heavy. Then I found out about the Dunrobin hit. Holy sh*t.
We lost power in Centretown, and just got it back this evening. Real weird the grid here, our neighbors across the street and next to us had power but we didn't.
posted by storybored at 8:37 PM on September 22, 2018

My Aunt was a longtime resident of Dunrobin. I find myself wondering if the house she only recently vacated, the house she raised her children in, the house she shared with her husband until his death, is even still standing. I'm relieved my family is safe - their new home didn't even lose power. My Aunt says that the husband of one of her good friends, a former neighbour, is currently in hospital because his barn collapsed on top of him.
posted by Secret Sparrow at 9:21 PM on September 22, 2018

Wow, the Merivale electric transmission substation was hit? That's an important one... the Ottawa electric grid is crappy and under-built at the best of times, I wonder what was actually damaged and how they will manage to put it back together again before winter.
posted by anthill at 12:29 AM on September 23, 2018

Yesterday afternoon the crowds on Elgin and in the Glebe were something else. Everyone was out looking for coffee and groceries and it seemed like half the shops were closed due to power outages. The football game at Lansdowne Park seemed fully attended though.

The storm was something else. We had water running into our basement for a little while, the downpour was so intense.

But come on, Mitheral, what's with that title? Ottawa has a significant Wiccan community and we don't need hate speech like that on the Blue.
posted by heatherlogan at 6:26 AM on September 23, 2018

Rating has been increased to EF3. Only the second recorded EF3 to hit Canada after August 31st.
posted by Mitheral at 7:57 AM on September 23, 2018

I was camping in Gatineau park. Or neighbourhood is fine, but two of my friends had their neighbourhoods hit by the tornado. They lucked out and their houses are fine, although they lost all their trees and won’t have power for a while.
posted by fimbulvetr at 1:23 PM on September 23, 2018

OCDSB just announced that all schools are closed tomorrow.
posted by fimbulvetr at 2:18 PM on September 23, 2018

there's a time to watch and a time to get the hell away from that window.

I've no doubt there are plenty of prior examples, but this year is the first time I'm seeing people actually take video of tornadoes hitting their dwellings instead of running for cover once the debris is in range. As a kid growing up in the midwest in the 80s who was both terrified and amazed by tornadoes I'd never have imagined I'd see that outside the fiction of movies.
posted by MillMan at 11:07 PM on September 23, 2018

For those who care to keep track, the official count is now three tornadoes and a couple of downbursts.

More amazing to me is that the utilities have fewer than 4000 customers without power as of Monday night. The head of Hydro Ottawa reminded people, however, that the grid is functioning, but not fixed, and anything we can do to limit the use of power for the next few days or weeks will help them manage the grid and help our neighbours keep their lights on.
posted by bonehead at 6:57 AM on September 25, 2018