‘Looks like a war zone,’ Mayor compares tornado with ’17 flood, ice storm ’98, in update from city

There are some silver linings to be found, as large portions of the capital region deal with a lack of power, while others pick up the pieces of their homes.

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson gave an update at a news conference Saturday morning, saying there have been no fatalities as a result of Friday night's tornado, and no one has been reported missing.

Listen to the mayor's full update:

More than 20 people received medical treatment Friday night. Five people were still in hospital Saturday morning — two in critical condition, two in stable condition and one in serious condition.

There have been no reports of looting or other crime related to the massive power outage, affecting 170,000 Hydro Ottawa customers. 

Hydro One is working on outages affecting 2,000 customers, while Hydro Quebec deals with 114,000 in the dark.

Firefighters and other emergency repsonders continue to help with storm recovery, as the city has set up emergency response centres.

The hardest hit areas, in terms of storm damage, appear to be Dunrobin, Craig Henry Drive, Arlington Woods, the Hunt Club Road and Riverside Drive area, as well as Paul Anka Drive and Macarthy Road area.

“I toured Dunrobin, particularily, with Councillor Eli El-Chanitry [Friday],” said the mayor. “You could see that it looked like it was something from a movie scene or a war scene, literally dozens and dozens — my understanding is 60 buildings destroyed or partially destroyed in the Dunrobin area. And then in councillor Egli's area, severe damage — hydro poles and trees crashing onto roofs.”

Watson added there has been no problem with the city's water supply, and OC Transpo is operating as usual for the most part. The only change is that the O-Train has been shut down. OC Transpo is running Route #2 to replace the train.

Other levels of government have offered assistance, but as of Saturday morning, the mayor said the city has all recovery covered.