Except for some fighting over pickets, the cleanup after Thursday’s tornado went well
Hydro Ottawa says that its response to Thursday’s storm was slow because workers were on strike, but the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) local 636, which represents striking Hydro Ottawa workers, says that its members were told not to interfere with efforts to restore power.
Barrhaven didn’t have any power outages for most of Friday. Hydro Ottawa said that about 1,800 customers lost power for a short time because of work to clear away debris. There was also a longer outage in a small part of Parkwood Hills in Nepean, which affected about 11 customers.
Hydro Ottawa spokeswoman Josée Larocque said that contractors and non-union workers were working on the repairs. In a tweet sent out around noon, the company said that repairs in both neighborhoods would slow down restoration efforts and that protesters were “holding up crews and materials in various locations.”
When asked for more information, Larocque said that some delays are to be expected at the picket line. But she said that the delays now are “much worse and now slow down response times to help with work in the field.”
She said that crews were having trouble getting materials and that trucks were being stopped at work sites, but she didn’t say where.
IBEW 636’s business representative, Mike Hall, said that the company’s claims were not true. Even though pickets could be seen in Barrhaven, Hall said that the workers were there to bring attention to their cause, not to stop people from responding.
“Our people have been told not to hold up anything related to fixing storm damage,” Hall said.
He also said that members of IBEW 636 pooled their money to buy coffee and snacks for people who were hurt by the storm.
In a tweet, the union local said that its members were picketing the company’s work sites and offices and that they would “never picket in Barrhaven to stop power from coming back on.”
A council member praises how quickly the city responded
Except for the fights over pickets, the work to clean up after Thursday’s storm seemed to go smoothly. Barrhaven West County Coun. David Hill said the city’s quick response was “amazing.”
“The city’s push of resources out here has been just great,” he said. “It happened right away, as all the locals I’ve talked to have told me. Everyone, from neighbors to city workers, has done everything they can to help.
Mayor Mark Sutcliffe didn’t give a specific time frame for how long it will take to clean up, but he did say that it shouldn’t take as long as cleaning up after the derecho in 2022.
“It’s still very bad for the families who are affected, but it doesn’t look like as many houses were damaged or as many trees were knocked down as during the derecho,” he said.
“So I’m hoping it won’t take as long to clean up.”