Difficult Morning in the wake of a destructive tornado
Residents injured, evacuated and stricken ... Houses destroyed, roofs ripped off, hundreds of thousands of homes without electricity ... The awakening will be extremely difficult for some residents of the Ottawa and Gatineau area, overnight a tornado possibly with force 2.
“Environement Canada” has confirmed that the same tornado has struck on both sides of the river. The tornado could have been force 2, with winds of 179 to 218 km / h. This information will only be confirmed in the next few hours with the arrival of “Environement Canada” inspectors.
Many areas have been hit hard: Dunrobin in western Ottawa; the Municipality of Pontiac in Eastern Ontario and the Mont-Bleu sector in Gatineau.
The General Director of the Emergency and Protective Services of Ottawa, Anthony Di Monte, said 25 people were injured and treated by paramedics, including 5 seriously. The latter were transported to the trauma center.
According to a preliminary assessment of the Outaouais Paramedic Cooperative, five patients were taken to the hospital. The state of health of the wounded in this region is still unknown.
Residents of Ottawa and Gatineau will wake up in the dark this Saturday morning. In total, more than half a million customers are without electricity. At the height of the crisis, more than 180,000 customers were affected in Quebec.
At 5:30 am in Outaouais, 48,817 customers out of 215,263 are without power. In Ottawa and surrounding areas, there are 160,000 clients and 49,547 in Eastern Ontario.
We have more than 200 teams working hard to restore power, "said Jonathan Côté, Hydro Quebec spokesperson. All the teams that are available can be called back, we do it.
Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard will suspend his election campaign for part of the day on Saturday to come and see the damage in the Outaouais. He will be at Cégep de l'Outaouais, home to hundreds of people in the morning. Public Safety Minister Martin Coiteux will accompany him.
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