Two confirmed tornadoes blast Ottawa-Gatineau area

Two confirmed tornadoes ripped through the Ottawa-Gatineau area late Friday afternoon, critically injuring five and causing extensive damage to homes, cars and commercial buildings.

Environment Canada confirmed Sunday that an EF-3 category twister hit Dunrobin, Ont., a suburb northwest of Ottawa. The national weather agency said the tornado’s wind speeds reached up to 265 km/h.

Cleanup continues following a tornado in Dunrobin, Ont., west of Ottawa, on Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. The storm tore roofs off of homes, overturned cars and felled power lines in the Ottawa community of Dunrobin and in Gatineau, Que. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

A second, less powerful tornado touched down in the Hunt Club/Greenbank Road areas in the south end of Ottawa at almost the same time.

In Dunrobin, early reports indicated 30 known injuries, five of them critical. The Ottawa Citizen reported more than 30 buildings were flattened in Dunrobin. One eyewitness reported to the Citizen that 10 houses and an entire mini-mall in the area had been completely destroyed.

Hydro Ottawa first reported that 147,000 customers were without power in the Ottawa area; about 70,000 were still without power as of Sunday, since the tornado badly damaged the Merivale hydro transformer station.

Hydro Ottawa CEO Bruce Conrad likened the magnitude of the tornado damage to the power grid to the chaos created by the 1998 Ice Storm, which cost Canadian insurers $2.2 billion and ranks as Canada’s second most costly insurance event behind the fire in Fort McMurray, Alta.

In Gatineau, Que., the tornado knocked down power lines in the area and trapped people in their vehicles and homes. CTV reported that lightning from the storm had caused a fire at Mont-Bleu Secondary School, burning it to the ground. Some Gatineau residents have been told that it might take 10 days before they can go back home.

Editor’s Note: This report is being updated as new information becomes available.

David Gambrill