Inside Ottawa’s record-breaking Canada Day storm

The first sign that something was wrong came from the basement.

When Catherine Clermont checked downstairs on Wednesday afternoon, everything looked normal and dry. Outside, though, something had changed. The Canada Day skies over Ottawa had turned from bright blue to an ominous grey, and rain was falling harder by the minute.

Standing outside her Ancaster Avenue home near Byron Avenue, Clermont watched storm drains struggle to keep up as water pooled across the street.

“It was so unexpected,” she told the Ottawa Lookout Thursday afternoon. “I checked the basement, and it was fine. But I saw the drains weren’t draining, and water was accumulating. The streets were like lakes.”

Clermont lingered outside, chatting with a neighbour as the water continued to rise. When she went back a short time later, the basement was already flooding.

“When I went downstairs, it was ankle deep, and then by the evening, it was knee deep,” said Clermont.

Across Ottawa, Canada Day celebrations were being shut down quickly. Afternoon concerts were cancelled, fireworks were called off, and thousands of residents abandoned holiday plans to battle rising water inside their homes.

In less than two hours, Environment Canada recorded 118 millimetres of rain — making it one of the city’s most significant rainstorms on record. By Thursday afternoon, the City of Ottawa said more than 1,900 residents had reported flooded basements, calling it the worst rainfall event to hit the capital in more than 25 years.

For Clermont, the water swallowed boxes of family keepsakes she had carefully stored over the years — items that could never be replaced. By Thursday morning, she was up bright and early, photographing everything for insurance before hauling ruined possessions to the curb.

“So many of my keepsakes — my daughter’s things from when she was little, books and everything that was stored in boxes were all wet,” she said. “Even in tubs, they floated, and then they tipped over. Everything from about the knee level seems to be destroyed.”

Only a few blocks away in Woodpark, Andira Awada was doing laundry when she noticed water spreading across the floor of her basement. She immediately realized this wasn’t a minor leak. Within hours, roughly 10 inches of water had flooded the lower level of her home, forcing her to close the home daycare she operates while she and her family scrambled to save what they could.

Neighbours came together to help. Awada went to the Bells Corners Canadian Tire, which opened despite it being a holiday, to purchase a standard pump. She was lucky to find one, but it was the wrong size. While searching for a more permanent solution, the Carlingwood-area resident borrowed a smaller one from a neighbour.

“I already went this morning to get another one of those small pumps and hoses to put in the back room, the laundry room, and one in the living room. I’m trying to get the water out as fast as possible, but it’s not really moving at all,” Awada told the Lookout Thursday. “When I hooked it up in the morning, and I put it into the laneway, my grass was flooded. It was way too much water, too much humidity for the ground to absorb it.”

Awada expects the basement’s flooring, walls, furnace, washer, dryer and much of the daycare equipment will have to be replaced. It’s the second time in a decade she has had to tear apart her basement because of flooding.

“About 10 years ago, we had flooding from a heavy rainstorm. And when we did basement renovations, we found signs of water damage from before I bought the house,” said Awada.

Awada was waiting for someone from her insurance company to assess the damage, but when she called, she was told more than 100 others had already made claims.

Near Britannia Beach, Bay Ward Coun. Theresa Kavanagh was enjoying a day off and wrapping up Canada Day festivities with her husband and two sons when they decided to step outside to watch the storm roll in. After a few moments, they heard a ding from the basement. It was an alarm notifying them that sewage was seeping through the drains.

“The whole world just went upside down,” said Kavanagh, who completed a basement renovation just weeks ago.

While trying to deal with her own home, Kavanagh was also fielding calls from residents facing the same crisis.

The flooding was particularly severe throughout Woodpark and surrounding west-end neighbourhoods, where social media quickly filled with images of submerged basements, overflowing catch basins and streets that had become rivers. Some residents expressed concern that flooding could have been made worse by nearby light rail construction and sewer work in the area.

Kavanagh said the storm overwhelmed drainage systems throughout older neighbourhoods, such as Woodpark, where some streets still rely on roadside ditches rather than storm sewers.

“It keeps coming back to the sheer volume of what happened yesterday,” she said. “The water had nowhere to go.”

But Kavanagh also noted that the city could do more to prepare for future climate-related severe weather events. Despite being in the middle of the city, communities such as Woodpark remain on ditch systems. Over the years, some have begun to fail.

In some neighbourhoods, such as City View, which also experienced flooding, a multi-year ditch-rehabilitation project is underway. Residents campaigned to have storm sewers installed instead, but the price tag was too costly and would have needed to be paid by homeowners.

In Bay Ward, Kavanagh said improvements to ditches are already underway. She’d like to see that work fast-tracked across the rest of her ward.

“Ditches can be very functional, but they have to be looked after,” she said. “But I don’t think you can prevent something like this that comes so quickly in such a short period of time.”

Across the west end in Arlington Woods, Victoria McKoy first watched the storm from her balcony, enjoying the flashes of lightning and rolling thunder before realizing something was wrong. The street outside had stopped draining. Water climbed over the curbs as neighbours waded through knee-deep flooding, while repeated trips to the basement showed everything remained dry — until suddenly it wasn’t.

By about 7 p.m., water was seeping through the foundation from every direction. When the power failed, McKoy, her husband and their three children spent the evening bailing water by hand, managing to keep flooding to about 12 centimetres. It was enough to heavily damage the family’s finished basement, including an in-law suite, kitchen and laundry room.

“Even my three kids joined in to try to keep the water under control,” she said. “The person who was in the in-law suite here is now living in our living room,” she added. “So it’s going to be a rough week or two before we figure out what we’re going to do.”

McKoy is lucky to have flood insurance, but said in the meantime, the people living in her in-law suite will be bunking in her living room.

In a social media post, Knoxdale-Merivale Coun. Sean Devine said much of the flooding in Arlington Woods was caused by Graham Creek overflowing. A map posted online showed three pinch points where culverts, grates and inlets overflowed.

By Thursday morning, a truck was en route to the lowest point to start pumping water. Devine said it would cause water levels along the entire creek to start receding.

The morning after the storm, signs of the wind’s intensity were noticeable. On one street, a tree rested against the side of a house. On another, branches sagged across hydro wires. In backyards across the city, gardens were flattened, garages crushed, and decades-old trees were torn from the ground by roots that had held firm through countless winters.

In the Glebe, Georgina, who asked that her last name not be published, was sitting in her living room during a lull in the storm when she heard what she described as “a tremendous splash and bang.”

The power went out instantly. Then her neighbour called and told her to look outside.

“I went and looked out my back window and a huge, huge tree next to the garage… had toppled,” she said. “I don’t know whether lightning struck it or whether it was the weight of the water on the leaves.”

The tree badly damaged her garage, pulled down hydro wires onto the patio, and flattened much of the backyard garden she had spent years building.

“I take great pride in my garden. I love gardening,” Georgina said. “I had a whole backyard full of ferns, perennials, bird baths — the whole setup — and it’s gone.”

By Thursday afternoon, Georgina was still without power, one of four small outage pockets in the Glebe affecting fewer than 60 customers. With wires still down in the backyard, she was reluctant to go outside and assess the full extent of the damage herself.

She had also started the insurance process, but said it was already unclear what would be covered, including whether the removal of the massive tree would be included because of the damage to the garage.

Across the city in Gloucester, Bryan Rawlings first noticed the sound.

“It got excessively noisy,” he said. “Thunder, I’m used to. Lightning, I’m used to.”

Then came “an awful thump.”

When Rawlings looked out a second-floor window, he saw branches pressed against the side of his house. A roughly 35-foot blue spruce had been ripped out of the ground, roots and all, before falling onto his home.

“It had just been ripped right out,” he said. “The roots had been ripped right out of the ground.”

The tree damaged the porch roof, eavestrough, shingles, and possibly some roof sheathing. But Rawlings said he knows it could have been far worse.

“I consider myself lucky,” he said.

By the time fire crews arrived at McEwen Avenue, the storm had already turned the road into a river.

Water had rushed into two high-rise buildings across from each other, filling elevator shafts, flooding electrical equipment and forcing residents to make quick decisions in the dark. Outside, emergency crews moved through standing water. Inside, residents listened to alarms, watched elevators shut down and tried to understand whether they could safely remain in their homes.

At 30 McEwen Ave., Alicia Magliocco did not immediately realize how serious the flooding had become. She ordered food with a neighbour and was puzzled when the delivery driver said he couldn’t enter the building. He then sent a photo showing upwards of three feet of water pouring into the building.

“I realized after that it was actually the elevator shafts,” Magliocco said. “There was water pouring down the elevator shafts and the garbage chute. I’m right across from the garbage chute room, and I just didn’t expect it to be this bad.”

Around 9:15 p.m., after Magliocco had put her daughter to bed, the fire alarm began to sound. She tried to gather what she could, but as someone with a spinal cord injury who uses a wheelchair, evacuating was not simple.

Her mother, who lives in the same building, was able to get Magliocco’s daughter out through a rear exit where Magliocco said there was roughly three-and-a-half feet of water mixed with garbage and sewage. But Magliocco remained upstairs while residents were initially told to return to their apartments.

That changed after the building’s electrical systems failed.

“There was actually a fire that was in the electrical panel of the basement because it flooded,” Magliocco said. “And then the generator also blew, which was surprising because our generator actually was lifted five feet off the ground a few years ago to avoid this issue. And clearly it wasn’t enough because of all the water that we got.”

Magliocco said her mother called 911, and firefighters later came to help her leave the building, carrying her down nine flights of stairs while someone else brought out her wheelchair.

“Some people didn’t want to leave the building because they knew that the power might be back on by tomorrow,” Magliocco said. “But then there was a follow-up email and fire services said that it wasn’t really safe to be in our building, and then they were doing an evacuation, and they’re hoping to get everything done in two weeks.”

For Magliocco, the experience underscored how quickly a weather emergency can become more complicated for people with disabilities, seniors and single parents.

She said she was grateful firefighters got her out safely and that she has family in Ottawa. Still, she worried about residents who may not have somewhere else to go or the means to pay for a hotel while waiting to be reimbursed by insurance.

“As a single parent, it’s hard to kind of think about something traumatic like this happening,” she said. “I never had to think about being ready for something like this. So I definitely know, for the future, to be a bit more prepared, because I definitely wasn’t. It was a learning moment.”

Across the street at 31 McEwen Ave., an Ottawa Community Housing seniors’ building, the damage was less severe but still frightening for residents and their families.

Lily Baranova’s 92-year-old grandmother lives on the 10th floor and has mobility issues, making it difficult for her to leave without elevator service. By Thursday, the lobby was muddy but passable after crews removed much of the water, but power and elevators remained a concern.

“She’s worried that it’s getting hotter,” Baranova said. “It’s getting quite hot and stuffy in her apartment, and she doesn’t tolerate that very well. She has a heart condition, so it is dangerous for her.”

Baranova brought battery-operated fans, ice packs and cold water to help her grandmother cool down, but said there was little else the family could do while waiting for the building systems to be restored.

She said crews were on site removing water from the elevator shafts and trying to dry equipment before safely turning power back on, but no clear timeline had been provided.

“I wish there were more proactive communication from Ottawa Community Housing or the city about what’s going on and what the plan is and what to do in case somebody really does need to get out, or how to help the people that can’t get out,” Baranova said. “I think there are a lot of people in there that are sitting in that building panicking right now.”

Kavanagh said the two McEwen buildings were among the most serious situations she saw after the storm. At 30 McEwen, she said the building’s electrical vault was flooded and badly damaged, creating a long-term repair problem that would prevent residents from returning quickly.

“Their vault pretty well exploded, and it was a big bang,” Kavanagh said. “That was the electricity being underwater and being exposed. It just went kaboom.”

Kavanagh said she spoke with Hydro Ottawa and understood that major electrical components would need to be replaced before the building could safely reopen.

“Not just the functions for the generator can’t be fixed, they have to be replaced,” she said. “They can’t even hook up the electrical connections to the building, except for a very, very short time; they’ll be able to do it to get them out of there.”

At 31 McEwen, Kavanagh said the situation was more stable because the generator was above ground and functioning. She said residents were being given meals and that the building was better equipped to manage the outage.

Firefighters remained on the scene Thursday evening, supporting residents and assisting with evacuations. A bus was on site where people could cool down, along with an emergency truck filled with bottled water.

It’s not the first time flooding has occurred at 30 McEwen. Back in 1992, a backed-up storm sewer resulted in basement flooding and power outages. Residents were forced to evacuate their homes for several days.

By Thursday afternoon, crews were clearing roads, checking flooded buildings, responding to downed trees and trying to help residents dispose of waterlogged belongings pulled from basements across the city.

At a press conference held at city hall, Mayor Mark Sutcliffe encouraged people to contact 3-1-1 if their basements flooded. Still, he noted it could take time to respond because of the overwhelming number of service requests being filed.

The city is also considering adding extra garbage collection days, temporarily lifting collection limits for flood-damaged material, and waiving building permit fees for residents who need to repair damaged basements.

“We’re looking at extra garbage collection days for people who are getting rid of material that’s been damaged by flooded basements. We’re looking at lifting the limits on garbage collection over the next week for the same reason,” Sutcliffe said. “For people who are later going to need to renovate and repair their basements, we’re going to look at waiving the building permit fees associated with that, so we’ll do everything we can to support people who are affected by this.”

Public works general manager Alain Gonthier said residents directly affected by basement flooding will not need yellow bags for additional flood-related waste. Construction debris will not be collected at the curb. Still, Trail Road Landfill will accept residential construction debris and electronic waste and will be open for the next three Saturdays to help residents affected by the storm.

“What we ask is that basically, if you have additional waste that’s flood-related, we will be scheduling additional pickups, so no yellow bags for those that are impacted directly by the basement flooding are required,” Gonthier said. “Construction debris will not be collected. What we’re trying to focus on is basically debris in basements that the flood has impacted.”

But that message came a little late for some College Ward residents, who were hopeful their soiled items could be picked up sooner rather than later.

In an evening social media update, area Coun. Laine Johnson said it would take time for the city to dispatch the level of service needed.

“The reason why we can’t increase the limit immediately within 12 hours like this is that there are operational conversations about whether you extend someone’s shift so that they pick up as much as they can, or whether you send additional trucks,” said Johnson. “There aren’t additional trucks in the capacity that we need.”

Johnson noted that additional garbage capacity would be available in College Ward and other areas within the next two weeks. Still, no details on how it would be rolled out or who would benefit were immediately released.

The storm also damaged public buildings and community spaces.

Ottawa Public Library said the Carlingwood and Nepean Centrepointe branches were closed until further notice because of weather-related damage. In contrast, Ben Franklin Place and the Nepean Centrepointe branch were listed as closed due to flooding. Holds and due dates are being extended, and residents are being asked not to return library items to the two affected branches while they remain closed.

At Cornerstone Housing for Women, flooding affected the shelter’s main entrance, kitchen area, basement and outdoor garden. The organization said personal protective equipment, donations, mattresses, paperwork, and some residents’ personal belongings were damaged, with losses already totalling several thousand dollars.

Residents were asked to remain in their units. At the same time, staff dealt with the flooding, and temporary beds were set up on the main floor for women with mobility challenges after the elevator was temporarily shut down.

Hydro Ottawa was also continuing restoration work after the storm knocked out power to more than 36,000 customers at its peak. By Thursday evening, around 3,000 customers remained without power.

Bruce Conrad, the president and CEO of Hydro Ottawa, said in a statement that some of the hardest-hit areas were still difficult to access due to flooding and submerged hydro stations in Nepean, Bells Corners and Crystal Beach.

As a result, it could be days before power is fully restored, he said.

“Please understand that water and electricity are a volatile combination, and for the safety of both the public and our crews, we must wait for conditions to improve before entering these zones,” wrote Conrad. “Because these areas are currently inaccessible, we are unable to provide a full assessment of the infrastructure damage.”

For those without power or air conditioning, several respite centres have opened across the city. Most recreation centres — including the Pinecrest Recreation Centre in College Ward — will be open throughout the day.

Unitarian House at 30 Cleary Ave. has also opened its space from 9 a.m. until 10 p.m. and will have Wi-Fi, snacks, and children’s toys available. While reservations are not required, a heads-up is recommended for planning purposes.

The Qualicum-Graham Park community building at 48 Nanaimo Dr. will also be open from 7 a.m. until 11 p.m. Community members are urged to attend to rest, cool off and charge their devices. Pets are allowed as long as they are on leashes.