Canada Day activities in Ottawa suspended as heavy rain causes flooding, road closures

Canada Day activities in Ottawa suspended as heavy rain causes flooding, road closures

Torrential rain falls on the capital

Activities for Canada Day in Ottawa have been suspended until further notice due to weather, as flooding closed some streets in the city and thunderstorms led to power outages.

As heavy rain fell across the capital, the Canadian Heritage department posted online that activites at LeBreton Flats Park, Old Hull, Parliament Hill and in front of the Supreme Court of Canada have been paused as of 2:40 p.m. on Wednesday.

"Due to weather conditions, the activities offered at all sites in Canada’s Capital Region are suspended until further notice," Canadian Heritage wrote, advising people to check back for updates.

At LeBreton Flats Park and Parliament Hill, electronic billboards advised attendees to seek shelter. As heavy rain and winds lashed the area, people ran to vacate the park, video posted online showed.

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Around 4:30 p.m., the Canadian Forces Snowbirds posted online that they would not be able to fly over Parliament Hill as planned.

"But we're not giving up!" they wrote.

"We’ll be watching the skies closely and will attempt to get airborne between storm fronts to overfly the National Capital Region. We can’t provide specific times, but you can track us in real time — follow SNBD1 on your favourite flight tracking app to see when we’re in the air."

This was already set to be the last Canada Day performance for the iconic aerobatic show, as its aging fleet is being grounded.

Flooding has closed Woodroffe Avenue between Knoxdale Road and Norice Street, the Ottawa Police posted online.

Highway 417, which had been closed to westbound traffic at Pinecrest Avenue, had reopened at 5:10 p.m., according to the Ontario Provincial Police.

"Heavy rainfall is causing localized flooding across Ottawa, resulting in hazardous driving conditions and road closures in some areas," the police said, advising against "unnecessary travel until conditions improve."

Hydro Ottawa has also reported localized power outages across the city, due to "inclement weather and thunderstorms," affecting just over 26,00 customers as of 5:00 p.m. The utility's outage map gives more information.

"Crews have been deployed to assess damage and restore power where it is safe to do so," it wrote.

Ottawa Police and the utility reminded the public to treat disabled traffic lights as four-way stops.

OC Transpo has posted about some routes which are on detours. The most recent information is posted on its alerts page.

A spokesperson told CBC that, as of 5:10 p.m., there are no LRT stations where service was disrupted by flooding. It said there was limited flooding at Heron station that was not affecting service.

The National Capital Region has been under varying heat and thunderstorm advisories from Environment Canada since Tuesday.

Gabrielle is an Ottawa-based journalist with eclectic interests. She's spoken to video game developers, city councillors, neuroscientists and small business owners alike. Reach out to her for any reason at gabrielle.huston@cbc.ca.