Cleanup: Environment Canada lifts storm warning for the capital, flurries expected to continue

Environment Canada has lifted its storm warnings for the capital.

As of about 1 p.m., the agency said the warnings were lifted for the Ottawa South-Richmond-Metcalfe and the Ottawa North-Kanata-Orléans regions.

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Snow flurries and brisk winds were expected to continue through the rest of the day and into Sunday.

Precipitation levels vary depending on the region, but early counts indicated 15-25 centimetres of snow had fallen, with another six centimetres possible before the storm ended.

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Light freezing rain was briefly reported Saturday morning as the temperature flirted with the 0 C mark.

City of Ottawa crews were already out to clear up major routes in the downtown core before heading out citywide.

There was also a winter parking ban on most city streets, but it was lifted at 7 p.m. on Saturday. Across the river in west Quebec, Gatineau implemented an overnight parking ban, effective from 3 a.m. to 6 a.m., until further notice.

While there were a number of fender-benders and other vehicle crashes, there were no reports of serious collisions during the storm.

Similarly, OC Transpo services seemed to weather the storm without major problems.

General manager Renée Amilcar, writing in an afternoon update to the mayor and city councillors, said OC Transpo “continues to adhere to its winter operations plan for bus, O-Train, and Para Transpo services.”

As with all transportation modes in the region on Saturday, the memo added, bus and Para Transpo customers had experienced delays “due to challenging road conditions, which has included detours and buses getting stuck in the heavy snow. Our teams have been working to clear these situations as quickly as possible and the situation has improved.”

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Updated information will be available on the octranspo.com website, social media, the Transit app, and in stations and trains, Amilcar’s memo said.

A number of small power outages were reported through the evening and into Saturday, although there was no official indication they were directly related to the storm.

The largest reported outage involved 1,645 customers in the Dumaurier, Ramsey, Moncton area described as a “forced outage.”

Hydro Ottawa spokesperson Josée Larocque said in an email that “restoration efforts have been a bit more challenging due to the weather conditions and backyard access requirements.”

Hydro Ottawa has had crews ready to respond since Thursday, the utility said.

As of Saturday morning, Environment Canada was predicting flurries Saturday night with wind gusts up to 60 km/h. The low was expected to be -6 C with a wind chill of -14 overnight.

Sunday was expected to feature more flurries and gusty winds. The high should be about -6 C, with a low of -11 C overnight.

There was a 30-per-cent chance of flurries daily through to Tuesday, the agency said.

PHOTO GALLERY

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