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THE SEVERITY OF THE POWER OUTAGE

On September 21st 2018, between 3:30 and 6:30 pm, a confirmed number of six tornadoes touched down in Ottawa and Gatineau. One of the sites that was affected by the tornado was the Merivale power plant, located near the intersection of Merivale and Hunt Club. Although there is no proof confirming whether or not the tornado directly hit the station, but it did rip off the roof of two buildings, which then slammed into the infrastructure, the insulators and the wires (OTT Citizen1). The Merivale Power Plant is one of the two major stations in the city; the other one is located in the east end, just off of Hawthorne Road near Hunt Club.

These two stations are where Ottawa’s city supply of electricity connects on a provincial level. There are big hydro lines coming in, and many small ones going out. They provide the power source that feeds neighbourhood level transformer stations, which then feed transformers on poles and individual buildings (OTT CITIZEN1). Within all of Eastern Ontario, Hydro Ottawa takes on the role of being the largest local distribution company. There are 331,777 total customers who use Hydro Ottawa, of which 303,571 are residential users, 24,888 of the users are small commercial and commercial, and there are 13 of them who are large users (HYDRO). The effects of the storm snapped approximately 80-90 Hydro poles in the city, taking down many others, and leaving pole and wires dangling (OTT CITIZEN2). This was the main cause for the multiple day power outages in the Ottawa-Gatineau region, affecting more than 300,000 people. Re-building the Power Plant was not an easy one-day-job fix. Hydro One and Hydro Ottawa employees took two full days thinking of a plan on how to resolve the issue and repair enough of the damage to start power restoration. Finally, on Saturday September 22nd, they had come up with a plan and by 8 pm, some neighbourhoods in the Southwest area of Ottawa began to have their power restored (OTT CITIZEN 1).

Hydro Ottawa and Hydro One tried to repair the poles the quickest way possible, in order for people to get heat and power back into their houses. Although people’s power had started to come back on, the Power Plant still required much work. Since the storm, Hydro One has had to continue making critical repairs to the station in order for it to operate at its full potential. They had planned multiple power outages around the city which affected more than 50,000 Hydro One and Hydro Ottawa customers (HYDRO). The planned power outages were necessary in order to fully repair and return important elements of the Merivale Power Plant that had been severely affected, which was a minor inconvenience when considering the destruction that had occurred. Work at the Merivale station may continue for several months in order to fully repair the damage from the tornado.

NEPEAN KNIGHTS LACROSSE ASSOCIATION: GIRLS PROGRAM

The Nepean Knights Lacrosse Association (NKLA) was officially established in 1993, before that the organization was known as the Nepean Lumberjacks. It is a program that offers kids from ages 5 up to 21, the ability to participate in recreational and competitive box lacrosse. For age levels Paperweight and Tyke, it is a co-ed program. In 2012, NKLA launched their very first girls only program and since then, the program has continued to grow each year. The first year, only 1 competitive girls’ team was available- a mix of girls Bantam and Midget aged. In 2010, competitive teams were offered at the Bantam, Midget and Intermediate levels. The house league season runs from April to June, and the competitive program begins in April and finishes early August (NKLAref). This past summer, 2018, both girls’ teams (Midget age and Intermediate age) competed in the Provincial Championships, located in Whitby, Ontario. The Midget girls won a silver medal in the ‘B’ division. The Intermediate girls won a gold medal in the ‘A’ division, gaining recognition as the best girls’ box lacrosse team for their age, in all of Ontario.

The success of the girls’ teams within the past couple years, has been a catalyst to attracting new players. Young girls of all ages are able to register and participate in the sport. For further information, you can go their website and get in touch with any member of the board. Registrations begin in early February.