OTTAWA — The thunderstorm didn’t stay long, but it left an impression while it lasted. Some 5,000 Hydro Ottawa customers were without power before the sun came up.
Outages were scattered across the region, including Carp, Pakenham, Arnprior and Almonte, though for the most part they were not caused by major damage and power wasn’t expected to stay out for long.
And a lightning strike started a fire in a house on Delson Drive in Navan about 6 a.m. Lightning hit the roofline and damaged a section of the wall, but didn’t cause damage inside the house. Two adults inside were awake, and escaped safely.
The wind blew down branches, some into hanging wires. It even knocked a tree down onto Highway 43 near Winchester.
And while there’s no snow blocking the street drains, the rain came down too suddenly for the drains to carry it away quickly. Drivers reported ponds forming at low points on roads, including major streets such as Hunt Club Road.
School buses were all running on the normal schedule.
The Carp River was running at levels typical of the spring runoff.
Thunderstorms are not common in early spring, but they can happen at any time of year. Ottawa’s sudden, heavy rain was the north end of a long line of early morning thunderstorms stretching south as far as Arkansas and Louisiana. It’s the result of warm, humid air pushing up from the Gulf of Mexico. Monday’s early-morning temperature reflected this: The low was 11 C, far warmer than the typical low of 0 C for this time of year.
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