April 5 storm clean up efforts
We have now entered the fifth week of recovery efforts following the April 5 significant weather event. As I mentioned last week Public Works is still operating under an emergency structure and for many services within our department, this is not business as usual. We recognize there have been some service delays and continue to make every effort to minimize the impacts of those delays.
On-street chipping and debris collection
As of this morning, our combined Solid Waste, Forestry, Roads and contracted crews have cleared 2,604 lane km of debris across the city, or 20% of our roads. As you’ll see below, not all our data has been collected so this number will rise once we have those updates and as work progresses remaining additional wards will be added. We also expect the percentages to rise more quickly once we are through the hardest-hit areas.
We currently have crews in the following wards
- Bay – 95% complete
- Stittsville – 91% complete
- Rideau-Vanier – 60% complete
- College – 60% complete
- Rideau-Rockcliffe – 47% complete
- Capital – 35% complete
- River – 32% complete
- Kanata South – 25% complete
- Riverside South-Findlay Creek – 24%
- Kitchissippi – 16% complete
- West Carleton-March – 18% complete
- Kanata North – 13% complete
- Osgoode – 8%
- Rideau Jock – 7%
- Barrhaven West – 5% complete
- Somerset – no data yet
- Beacon Hill-Cyrville – no data yet
Still to come
- Orléans West-Innes
- Knoxdale-Merivale
- Orléans East-Cumberland
- Gloucester-Southgate
- Orléans South-Navan
- Barrhaven East
Complete
- Alta Vista
We will continue our cleanup operations in these harder-hit wards before expanding into wards not yet on the list. Providing precise timelines is challenging given that our crews do not always know the complexity of the cleanup at certain sites until they arrive.
Our Roads crews continue working in the urban core and expect to have everything cleared from Moodie to Churchill and from Baseline to Carling by the end of today. Once that is complete, their focus shifts to streets east of Churchill and north of Carling. They also expect to have all streets east of the Rideau Canal into Old Ottawa South cleared by the end of the weekend and will move west of the canal by early next week.
Yesterday, our Forestry crews completed North Gower and are almost finished Kars. They will then move into the Manotick area. Osgoode and Metcalfe are also complete and crews moved into Greely yesterday. Rockcliffe is about 75% complete with crews set to head into Beacon Hill after that.
Solid Waste crews made great progress last week and will continue where they left off covering Kanata, West Carleton and the small amount remaining in Stittsville. These crews are collecting as much brush as they can. They will leave larger logs behind and provide addresses for other crews to address.
It is important to remember that all crews will do a single pass. Should some smaller debris be left behind, we encourage and thank residents for collecting it and leaving it on the curb for regular leaf and yard waste removal.
We recognize that there is a lot of work that remains and many neighbourhoods to address once we complete the ones listed above. We will continue to spread our resources across the city until the work is complete. As we progress through the cleanup, there may be some scheduling updates midweek. You will always be able to find the most up to date schedule here. We will also be notifying all affected Councillors before we enter their wards so they can use their various social media platforms to remind residents to have their debris ready for removal.
Free Woodchips Available
Some of the debris that’s been collected as part of recent recovery efforts has been turned into woodchips and is available to residents – free of charge – at the following locations:
- Recreation facilities
- Navan Memorial Centre, 1295 Colonial Road
- Nepean Sportsplex, 1701 Woodroffe Avenue (Minto sports field parking lot, between Minto field and Hamilton baseball diamond)
- Sandy Hill Arena, 60 Mann Avenue (southwest corner, on the fenced-in side of the property)
- Kanata Recreation Complex, 100 Charlie Rogers Place
- Jim Durrell Recreation Centre, 1265 Walkley Road
- Stuart Holmes Arena, 5660 Osgoode Main Street
- Larry Robinson Arena, 2785 8th Line Road, Metcalfe
- Yards
- 2145 Roger Stevens Drive
- 4244 Rideau Valley Drive
Please note these woodchips will be available while quantities last. We are asking anyone coming by to please bring your own shovel, gloves, and container for easy transport and to abide by the safety instructions posted at each site.
The forecast is calling for great gardening conditions this weekend, so we encourage residents to take full advantage of the woodchips. Should we determine a site is not seeing enough traffic, the woodchips could be moved to another location.
While we will try to replenish some sites as required, it is our goal to set up new locations where crews are chipping to make our operations as efficient as possible. These locations will be posted here.
Safety is always our priority. In addition to wearing gloves, choose appropriate footwear and be aware of other individuals and vehicles at the yards or facilities.
We appreciate everyone’s patience as we continue working on restoring areas that have been impacted by the storm.
Forestry calls
While our Forestry crews have joined the on-street chipping operations, they are still responding to storm-related service requests. This week, we began to see calls transition away from storm-related requests to regular maintenance calls.
Here are the latest numbers:
- 5278 total calls
- 2988 completed Notifications
- 1302 Notifications assigned to crews and that have been triaged by Inspection Staff (Most of these have been attended to by crews but have follow up action i.e. brush, wood pick up, stump grinding.)
- 171 Notifications outstanding (awaiting assessment)
- 817 Notifications in progress by Inspection staff
Things to Note
- You can support our efforts by making use of the City’s Leaf and Yard Waste Program.
- The City is continuing its commitment to re-establishing the lost tree canopy by re-planting lost City trees. Residents who would like a tree replacement on the City’s right of way are encouraged to request it through the Trees in Trust program. Staff will continue to assess the loss of trees in City-owned parks before planning for their replacement.
Look Ahead
We will continue working safely and as efficiently as operationally possible to get into a neighbourhood near you.
The encouragement you have shown Public Works since the start of this event has not gone unnoticed. Thank you for your unwavering support as we continue responding to yet another weather event.
