OTTAWA — A massive cleanup operation is underway across the national capital region after a historic, record-breaking downpour of 118 mm soaked Ottawa on Canada Day. The severe deluge triggered widespread flash flooding on major highways and residential streets, completely inundated basements, and forced the abrupt cancellation of July 1 birthday celebrations city-wide.
The severe weather system, packed with heavy rain and intense thunderstorms, moved into the capital region between 1:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Water quickly accumulated through the afternoon and early evening, paralyzing traffic on Highways 416 and 417 and forcing temporary road closures. By Thursday morning, key local routes including Moodie Drive and Scott Street remained entirely closed to traffic as emergency crews worked to drain the standing water.
According to Environment Canada, the 118 mm of rain recorded at the Ottawa Airport marks the wettest July 1st in the city’s history, shattering the previous Canada Day record of 58.9 mm set back in 1959. This phenomenal volume also stands as the second-highest all-time single-day rainfall ever recorded in Ottawa, sitting just behind the absolute record of 135.4 mm logged on September 9, 2004, due to the remnants of Hurricane Frances.
The human toll of the flash flood became evident as Mayor Mark Sutcliffe confirmed that at least 1,450 residents had contacted the city’s 3-1-1 line to report flooded basements, with many families losing everything stored in their lower levels. Mayor Sutcliffe strongly urged affected residents to bypass busy phone lines and use the city’s online portal instead to expedite insurance claims and municipal tracking. To alleviate the burden on citizens, the mayor announced that the city would temporarily lift household garbage collection limits for damaged items and entirely waive municipal building permit fees for homeowners needing to structurally repair or renovate their ruined basements.
Compounding the misery, the stormy weather severely disrupted the local power grid. Approximately 6,000 Hydro Ottawa customers remained completely without electricity on Thursday morning, particularly around the Bells Corners and Bruce Farm areas, due to downed trees and snapped utility lines. Regionally, the outage was even more vast, with Hydro One reporting over 15,000 customers in the dark across a broader swath stretching from Kingston through Brockville and Cornwall to Ottawa. Utility providers noted that while emergency crews are working as fast as safely possible, full power restoration for some remote sectors might stretch into late Thursday evening.
Ottawa’s Emergency Command Centre continues to actively assess city-wide impacts, coordinating municipal services alongside regional partner agencies. Ryan Perrault, General Manager of Emergency and Protective Services, noted that while response efforts have been continuous, initial operations on Wednesday were slightly slowed because some field staff had to shelter in place for safety during the peak of the lightning storms on the statutory holiday.
