The death toll from the sweeping wave of bad weather and the “Derezo” storm in Canada reached 8, while a total of 900,000 houses were left without electricity even for a while.
The eighth death was confirmed on Saturday on the river Utah in Canada, where a woman who was canoeing drowned when the small boat capsized.
300,000 households were still without electricity yesterday, mainly in Ottawa and Laurentid, the two local electricity companies Hydro One and Hydro-Québec said.
Strong winds, with speeds of 140 kilometers per hour and more, pounded eastern Canada on Saturday, during severe storms of the type called “Derezo”.
The front, originally formed in the United States, was “nearly 1,000 kilometers” from Michigan to Maine, US states in central and northeastern parts of the country, before hitting the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec, he said. Speaking on a local radio station, David Phillips, a meteorologist with the federal Department of the Environment.
“The term ‘Derezo’ is not used often, it is a rare phenomenon,” he added, explaining that it is a “long line of storms” that come together.
The federal capital, Ottawa, was hit hard, with thousands of households still in the dark last Sunday night, while roads remained closed due to falling trees or branches and various other objects swept away by the winds.
Crews continued to clean up the road network and restore electricity to the homes of nearly half a million people.
“The last 24 hours have been very difficult,” admitted the mayor of the capital Jim Watson yesterday, calling on his fellow citizens in Ottawa to “remain optimistic despite the challenges” caused by the bad spring weather.
Prime Minister Justin Trindade assured that the federal government is ready to help, if requested. “We are thinking of all those affected and we thank the crews who are working to restore power,” he said via Twitter yesterday.
Authorities estimate that it will take up to 24 hours for normalcy to be restored.
The article Canada: 8 dead from Derezo sweeping storm – 300,000 homes without electricity was published in Fourals.com.