Canada: 4 Dead, 9 Lakh Homes Without Power as Heavy Storms Hit Eastern Provinces

Four people died as massive storms hit Canada's eastern provinces of Ontario, Ottawa, and Quebec on Saturday, 21 May, also causing a huge blackout that left 9,00,000 houses without power, news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

The storms uprooted trees in various areas, crushing a man and an older woman.

Another woman in her fifties drowned in the Ottawa River when she was in her boat, CBC reported.

The fourth individual died in Ottawa but local police did not disclose further details, AFP reported.

Ottawa Police and emergency responders have been called to multiple fallen trees, fallen power lines and other storm damage through the Ottawa area as a result of the thunderstorm this afternoon. Some reports of injured people. Crews are assessing. #ONStorm #ottnews #ottawa

— Ottawa Police (@OttawaPolice) May 21, 2022

'We Are Increasing Uniformed Patrols': Ottawa Police

"We are increasing uniformed patrols in the most affected areas of the city to ensure public safety and confidence," Ottawa police said in a tweet.

Hydro One, an electricity transmission and distribution utility in Canada, wrote, "We're responding to outages caused by severe thunderstorms moving across southwestern Ontario as quickly and safely as possible," noting substantial damage to transmission systems in Ottawa.

As many as 64 trucks were called in to cater to the regions that needed aid in Ottawa.

@OttFire Firefighters are still out in the city working hard to keep the residents of #Ottawa safe. We still have close to 60 trucks on calls.

Our dispatchers are prioritizing all the calls & making sure every resident who needs help will get it. #OttawaStorm #ONStorm #OttNews pic.twitter.com/xrk7LcURWd

— Ottawa Fire Services (@OttFire) May 22, 2022

(With inputs from AFP.)