Ottawa sinkhole disrupts lives of residents, tourists

A Grade 8 field trip. A DJ who works at a downtown sports bar. A couple from Wisconsin. A dance instructor who couldn't get to rehearsal.

Those are just some of the people who were forced to change their planswhen the pavement fell awayon Rideau Street in downtown Ottawa on Wednesday morning.

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Andre Thibault, a DJ at Real Sports in the ByWard Market, said he was looking forward to a busy night at the bar forgame three of the NBA finals.

"I was supposed to be working ... and our power was out so we called it a day," said Thibault.

"It'sdefinitely a night that we'd like to be able to be open because it's a big business night for us It's a hit to the paychequefor sure, but at the end of the day it's just a good thing nobody got hurt."

There were scary moments for international tourists, some of whomdidn't have data plans on their cellphones, and had no way of looking up what was happening.

"We really didn't know anything was going on. Truthfully.We were over at the Parliament houses... and then we saw all this yellow tape and police officers," said Connie Secker, who is visiting Ottawa with her husbandfrom Green Bay, Wisconsin.

The couple isin town for a conference at the Shaw Centre, which was forced to evacuate on Wednesday,andhave reservations at the Westin Hotel, which also evacuated temporarily Wednesday and didn't have hot water overnight.

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At one point theSeckers were worried they'd be "sleeping in the [rental] car" for the night.

Karen Spillane and her Grade 8 students are visiting the capital from Stratford, Ont., and had planned to spend Wednesday afternoon shopping at the Rideau Centre.

"As we were leaving the war museum our travel agent called to tell us, 'Just sit tight for a few minutes,'until she could figure out if our plans were going to be dramatically affected," said Spillane.

Their trip detour was minorand the students got the chance to witness the chaotic scene firsthand.

Not as impressed with the drama wasKseniyaOgloblina,who wasn't able to get to her dance studio on Rideau Street.

"It's probably going to be bad ... maybe even for this week," said Ogloblina, who had a scheduled rehearsal ahead of an upcoming performance at the Shenkman Arts Centre in Orlans.

"We're supposed to have a rehearsal. I don't know how that's going to happen."