Biggest natural disaster since 1998 ice storm hits Ottawa

The Cree School Board’s post-secondary department (CSBPS) is implementing new safety protocols and procedures to better prepare their students after the six tornadoes that ravaged the Ottawa-Gatineau region last month.

Environment Canada reported three tornadoes, most likely EF-1 tornadoes with wind speeds between 135-175 kms per hour, touched down on the Quebec side. The first of the three tornadoes touched down around 3:30 pm west of Mont-Laurier followed by the others at Val-des-Bois and north of Otter Lake.

A more powerful EF-3 tornado touched down near Dunrobin, Ontario, before crossing the river to Gatineau, destroying hundreds of homes and knocking out power. Another EF-1 tornado hit Calabogie while an EF-2 tornado hit Ottawa between Greenbank and Hunt Club south of Algonquin College. That one knocked out power to the Merivale Ottawa hydro station, leaving much of the city without power and in the dark.

Darryl Diamond of the CSBPS said they never lost power at their Gatineau office on Rue Montcalm, and were barely aware of the devastation that was going on throughout the city.

“The building faces south. So we didn’t have a visual of how bad that system appeared,” Diamond said. “It just looked like a usual thunderstorm passing through.”

At the time of the incident, Diamond was hosting an open house for the Ottawa-Gatineau CSBPS students. He said they received tornado warnings but didn’t think they were that serious so the supper event went on as planned.

During the supper Diamond kept a close watch on the developing weather system and was prepared to lead his group to the basement of the building if the tornado hit, but the need never arose.

Priscilla Bosum, a second-year student at Algonquin College in Museum Studies, experienced the natural disaster in a much more personal way.

“It almost looked like a carpet being rolled, but it was a black cloud that was coming. It unrolled and unrolled then it became so dark on our street and it started to rain like crazy. I’ve never seen that kind of rain before,” she said.

Bosum and her roommate were cooking supper for their children at the time and didn’t take the tornado warnings seriously. They went about their normal routine because they had experienced such warnings in the past but nothing had actually happened.

The power flickered once while they were cooking and then later went out for good, leaving them without electricity for the next 17 hours.

After supper, Bosum was still unaware that a tornado had hit the city so she went for a ride around the block and that’s when her messages started coming in from friends and family asking her if she was okay and informing her of the events that took place.

They sent her videos of the tornado through social media and told her that Philemen Wright High School, where some her kids attend, was also hit.

That night the kids were frightened but her and her family were fine during the power outage. They made it a game and brought out their Goose Break supplies such as candles and flashlights and pretended like they were in the bush.

Although it was a traumatic experience for Bosum and her family, she was inspired by the sense of community that arose in the aftermath of the disaster. She said that the Gatineau Cree community came together to help out those in need, where people with power were opening up their homes for those without.

“Everyone reaches out for each other in times like this,” she said.

Diamond was thankful that no one was hurt and that the loss of hydro was the only effect of the storm for the Crees living in the area. The CSBPS reimbursed their students for all perishable food items that they lost during the power outage.

For the future Diamond said that he will be updating the CSBPS emergency preparedness plan so that they will be better able to locate their students and more quickly verify their safety in times of emergency.