'It's been a long year': City, Hydro Ottawa look back on 2018 tornadoes

One year after tornadoes ripped through theDunrobin, Merivale and Greenboroneighbourhoods, the City of Ottawa is only now summing up itslessons learned.

It's been a challenging year, after all: afatal bus crash, record spring flooding and another, smallertornadoin Orlans have given emergency staff little time to reflect and make formal changes.

"We're in this operational tempo that seems to be much higher than we're used to," said Anthony Di Monte, general manager of emergency and protective services.

"It's been a long year," agreed Bryce Conrad, CEO of Hydro Ottawa.

An expensivestorm

The widespread power outages following the Sept. 21, 2018, tornado strikes had a lot to do with the direct hit to Hydro One's transmissionstation offMerivale Road.

The provincial utility spent $10 million and several months repairing that transmissionstation.

• 'Above and beyond': Hydro workers share stories of tornado cleanup

The municipally owned Hydro Ottawa also shelled out nearly $3.5 million to respond tothe tornadoes and rebuild parts of the electrical grid.

Its aging power poles and conductors quickly toppledas the winds swept through, said Conrad, rememberinghow the devastation forced Greenbank Road toshut down for days.

"All that marginal stuff has been replaced with brand new rock solid stuff, soour infrastructure is better today than it was before the tornadoes hit," saidConrad.

The City of Ottawa, meanwhile, has tallied its tornado costs at $3.8 million which includedlaunching an emergency operations centre that existedfor weeks,and paying social services and recreational staff who helpedresidents affected by the tornadoes.

New radios for execs

City staff wrapped up their debriefs about last September'schallenges long ago, butDi Monte's team isonly now finishing a package of recommendations onhow to address those challenges, particularlyhow to communicate when cell towers are out and phone batteries die.

At the time of the storm, city managerSteve Kanellakos admitted the city'stop issue had been communication. Heurged residents to get battery-powered radios.

Kanellakos described how even he could not get a signal and had to drive in his pyjamas until his phone had a few bars so he couldtalk withhis senior team.

• City suffered communication breakdown after tornadoes struck
• Cities must better prepare for communicating in a crisis

That would no longer happen today, Di Monte says.

Senior city staff now carryportable radios that are on adedicated, encrypted channeland can be reached in an emergency.

The city has also explored three manufacturers offering an umbrella or dome-like product often used by the military to set up communications in remote areas.

Communities rebuild

In the lead-up to the one-year anniversary, Knoxdale-Merivale Coun. Keith Egli saidhe's beenreflectingon the trauma the tornado inflicted onhis ward's neighbourhoods of Arlington Woods and Craig Henry.

"My community is still rebuilding, very much so. But there's just been such a renewed sense of community as a result of the tornado," he told CBC News this week.

For instance, a new community association has sprungup in Craig Henry.

The Trend-Arlington area also has a full day of events planned Saturday, including tree-planting in Bruce Pit and a sold-out dinner.

Thecommunity will also unveila new entryway to itscommunity building, built out of wood from trees that came down during the tornadoes.