Hydro Ottawa trimming damaged trees from July 28 storm this week

Hydro Ottawa crews will be out trimming trees this week in areas that were severely damaged by a storm that swept through the capital on July 28. 

“Starting this week, we will actively patrol areas within our service territory that were badly damaged by the storm in search of any trees or branches near power lines that may cause possible hazards or outages,” said Hydro Ottawa in an email sent to customers on Aug. 2.

In the email,  the utility company said “our crews continue to find trees, branches and other debris near power lines, which can result in additional outages when contact occurs.”

See us working in your neighbourhood? We’re patrolling areas that are damaged by the storm to look for branches close to power lines. This is in an effort to reduce the potential impact of damaged trees or trees that can have an impact on infrastructure and outages in the future. pic.twitter.com/z1FFK3krbs

— Hydro Ottawa (@hydroottawa) August 2, 2023

Hydro Ottawa said crews will do their best to notify customers of power disruptions needed to safely complete any work required.

“Patrolling crews may perform tree trimming on residential properties and may require access to residents’ backyard in order to access City of Ottawa right-of-ways,” said Hydro Ottawa in its email. “While Hydro Ottawa typically conducts tree trimming within a three-metre clearance area of our equipment, in some cases, a clearance beyond the three-metre threshold may be required.”