Praise for hydro workers as power returns

As the lightsflickered on in neighbourhoods across Ottawa over the weekend, praise flooded in for the hydro crews who have worked tirelessly since Friday's devastating storm to restore power.

As many as 65 Hydro Ottawa power line workers have been fixing poles and guide wires at any given time since the tornadoes touched down. Crews have worked 16 hour shifts, with only eight hours of rest in between.

"It's hard because when you go home you're thinking about your next day," said Darcy Provost, the supervisor of distribution operations for Hydro Ottawa.

Long hours

The hours are long and the work can be dangerous, but the outpouring of support from the public has helped keep up morale, Provost said.

His crew had been working without so much as a meal breakthis weekend when hot pizza suddenly arrived around 4 p.m. Later, someonedelivered coffee.

"Just that little extra boost keeps the morale up for sure," he said.

Crews have already replaced about 90 damaged hydro poles since Friday.

The final thousand homesare often the most difficult to get back online, Provost said, because crews typically have to go house to house to restoreindividual connections.

"It's the hardest part of the job to get the last customers on."

Heavy damage to grid

At times, more than half of Hydro Ottawa's customers were without power after a pair of tornadoes hit parts of the city's west end.

The electrical grid suffered more damage on Friday than it did during the infamous 1998 ice storm, said Hydro Ottawa's president over the weekend.

About 48,800 local Hydro-Qubeccustomers were without power as of Saturday morning.

Local numbers weren't immediately available,but provincial power distributor Hydro One said at its peak, the storm knocked out power to approximately 400,000 customers.

Between 11 p.m. Sunday and 5 a.m. Monday, power was restored to about 30,000 Hydro Ottawa customers, prompting many to thank hydro workers via social media.

The owner of at least one restaurant offered free breakfast for hydro workers on Monday.

As of noonMonday, approximately 3,700 customers were stiil without power. Officials couldn't say when those people will get their electricity back.