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Tens of thousands without power following tornado in Ottawa region

Hydro Ottawa says more than 170,000 customers were without power early this morning

Officials are beginning to tally the damage of a tornado that ripped through the Ottawa area yesterday, sending several people to hospital and levelling buildings.

Hydro Ottawa says more than 170,000 customers were without power early this morning as a result of the twister, which blew through Ottawa, Dunrobin, Ont., and Gatineau, Que., late Friday afternoon.

The agency tweeted drone footage on Saturday morning showing a mass of hydro towers, trees and power lines felled by the storm.

Meantime, Hydro-Quebec said 114,000 customers were affected by outages in that province.

Damage from the storm is major — roofs have been torn off homes and cars were overturned on Highway 50 — and the cleanup was just beginning on Saturday morning.

Gatineau Mayor Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin says 215 buildings were damaged or destroyed, and a total of 1,686 homes were affected.

The Ottawa Hospital said in a tweet last night that it was treating six people with injuries related to the tornado.

The hospital said two patients were in critical condition, one had serious injuries, and the others were listed as either stable or in fair condition.

Officials warned people not to re-enter their homes until they had been deemed safe.

The Canadian Press

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