Yahoo News Spring storm knocks out power, closes schools
Wind, rain and wet snow has taken out power to more than 40,000 customers in the Ottawa-Gatineau area Thursday, closed some schools in western Quebec and disrupted vehicle and light rain travel.
Snowfall warnings and other weather alerts remain in and around the capital.
About 21,750 Hydro One customers in eastern Ontario didn't have power as of about 1 p.m.. About 18,500 local Hydro-Québec customers were in the same boat.
Hydro Ottawa is reporting about 2,100 customers are out.
Ottawa's international airport recorded 14.5 millimetres of rain and 9.8 centimetres of snow Wednesday.
Environment Canada's weather advisory map as of about 10:45 a.m. on April 4. Warnings are in red, special weather statements in grey. (Environment Canada)
Ottawa, communities to its east and Gatineau were forecast around 8:30 a.m. to get about five to 10 more centimetres of snow.
The snow is supposed to fade in intensity starting this afternoon.
Ottawa Fire Services has ended its open-air fire ban.
The forecast for areas immediately north and east of Gatineau is for a total of 15 to 20 centimetres of snow, sometimes heavy and wet, plus winds gusting up to 70 kilometres an hour. Relief is expected there this evening.
The Maniwaki area has a similar outlook, but slightly weaker winds and slightly less snow.
Communities south of Ottawa such as Brockville, Carleton Place and Smiths Falls were forecast around 10:45 a.m. to get another couple of centimetres of snow.
The Belleville and Pontiac areas didn't have any weather alerts early Thursday morning. Later in the morning, warnings and statements ended west of Ottawa and in the Kingston area.
School changes, crashes, LRT breaks
One of Ottawa's light rail trains broke down at Bayview station not long after 6 a.m. It took more than three hours for full service to resume.
A memo from the city said the maintenance manager believes "the wet snow and drop in temperatures overnight may have impacted the affected train's communications-based train control system."
A busy eastbound O-Train heads toward downtown Ottawa Thursday morning. A stopped train around Bayview station had disrupted the Confederation Line. (Kristy Nease/CBC)
A crash closed the eastbound lanes of Highway 401 between McConnell Avenue and Boundary Road in Cornwall Thursday morning for about two hours, according to the transportation ministry.
Police in the Hawkesbury area asked drivers to stay off the roads because of drifting snow.
People drive and walk on a residential Ottawa street Thursday morning. (Patrick Louiseize/Radio-Canada)
More than a dozen schools in the Centres de services scolaire au Coeur-des-Vallées, des Draveurs and Portages de l'Outaouais, plus the Western Québec School Board, closed Thursday because they don't have power.
School buses are cancelled Thursday under the STEO and CTSE. They're partially cancelled under the Tri-Board agency and CTSO.
Renfrew County almost got out unscathed, but isn't running buses in the Madawaska area.
