By CTV News Ottawa, September 29, 2017
A cyclist was seriously hurt after being hit by a truck this morning.It happened at the corner of Waller and Besserer street just after 9 a.m.
Paramedics says a man in his 60s was hit by a transport truck while he was on a bike.
By Joanne E. Laucius, Ottawa Sun, September 29, 2017
Ottawa’s most storied tree is in perilous shape after about one-third of its trunk was sheared away during a fierce thunderstorm on Wednesday.
It will likely take at least a week before the fate of the Dominion Arboretum’s majestic Bebb’s oak is decided.
Ottawa residents have picnicked in the oak’s gracious shade and had their wedding photos taken beside its massive trunk, which bears a plaque in honour of Ardeth Wood, the 27-year-old graduate student who disappeared in 2003 and was found slain after a five-day search involving hundreds of volunteers.
By CBC News Ottawa, September 29, 2017
Ontario hunters and anyone closer to nature this weekend are being asked to be on the lookout for deer exhibiting symptoms of EHD, or epizootic hemorrhagic disease, an infection wildlife officials are trying to track.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry issued an advisory Wednesday after the discovery of two dead male deer on a property in London, Ont., on Sept. 12.
These are the first confirmed cases in Ontario of EHD, an infection often fatal in white-tailed deer, according to ministry spokesperson Jolanta Kowalski.
By CBC News Ottawa, September 29, 2017
A rapidly moving column of sinking air called a microburst is likely to blame for the damage caused when a powerful storm moved through the National Capital Region Wednesday afternoon, Environment Canada says.
The Britannia Yacht Club on the Ottawa River recorded a wind gust of about 160 km/h at 3:08 p.m. Wednesday, the weather agency said in a French-language notice posted on its website Friday. Staff at the club confirmed the reading to CBC Thursday.
Winds moving that fast are consistent with F1 tornadoes, but microbursts can also cause winds at speeds of more than 100 km/h.
By Andrea Prazmowski, Kitchissippi Times, September 28, 2017
Bev McBride is being interviewed and giving the conversation her full attention, but doesn’t miss a beat when asked what birds she’s noticing, on the shore of the Ottawa River downstream from Westboro Beach. Like rapid-fire, she lists them.
“I hear American Goldfinches over there,” she says, gesturing to the vegetation on her left. “Northern Cardinals in the shrubs along there,” further up the bike path. “Song sparrows all along here, and those are Ring-billed Gulls out on the water.”
Her ears and eyes finely-tuned by decades of birding, Bev’s observations are a revelation to a non-birder, ears straining to discern the Goldfinches’ chirps amidst the thrum of insects and sounds of the river.
By Aaron Thornell, Kitchissippi Times, September 28, 2017
SMARTNet Alliance, in conjunction with the Ontario Sustainable Energy Association, will be hosting Ottawa’s Green Energy Doors Open (GEDO) September 30 and October 1.
SMARTNet Alliance is a group that seeks to catalyze Ottawa’s movement towards a green energy city.This is SMARTNet Alliance’s third year behind GEDO Ottawa, a free event in which individuals, communities, and businesses share their renewable energy projects and successes. Events include green energy and electric vehicle showcases, both to be taking place at Lansdowne Park on September 30.
These showcases will include a panel of electric vehicle owners sharing their road trip travel experiences, an electric vehicle garage, as well as two energy efficient tiny homes designed and built by Carleton University students. Meanwhile, participating individuals and businesses all across the city are inviting the public to explore their green homes and offices and to learn more about green energy projects and green infrastructure.
By Ottawa Metro News, September 28, 2017
O-Train service will be coming off the track for three Sundays this month, to help the city move ahead with the planned expansion.
This coming Sunday, as well as Oct. 15 and Oct. 22, the train will be shut down between 7:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. to allow inspections by contractors looking to build the proposed expansion.
Three contractors have been shortlisted to bid on an expansion of the Trillium Line, which includes both the expansion and the maintenance of the existing O-Train line.
By Erin MacCracken, Ottawa Community News, September 28, 2017
The sound of heavy equipment and chainsaws brought Wisteria Park residents out into their backyards, where they watched, shocked, as workers began clearing away a large swath of trees and brush.
“That’s a lot of damage,” Joanne Chew said, standing in a section of woodlot that has been reduced to overturned earth since work began Sept. 25. “It’s almost like watching a documentary about a gas company clearing for a gas line. It doesn’t make sense.”
(...)Now that several have been axed, residents say they are already feeling the heat since their properties are no longer shaded from the sun, and they worry about the reduced barrier that has buffered them from airport noise and pollution.
By Joanne Chianello, CBC News Ottawa, September 28, 2017
There aren't many sexy municipal issues — purchasing bylaw amendments, anyone? — and storm water sewer infrastructure is no exception.
Pipes, tunnels and ditches that collect rainwater are hardly a basis for a House of Cards plot.But in case we needed a reminder about why that underground network is so important, Wednesday afternoon's torrential downpour provided one. As climate change brings more unexpected, freakish weather, our infrastructure will take a beating.
And yet, mere hours earlier, council flushed its responsibility to fund storm water sewers over the next decade down the drain. They opted instead for a short-term fix that will see a drop in next year's rate increase, but requires borrowing $3 million and punts more difficult decisions well past the October 2018 municipal election.
By Tom Spears, Ottawa Citizen, September 28, 2017
The storm that hit Ottawa on Wednesday produced a wind gust of 160 km/h at the Britannia Yacht Club, near the heart of the damage zone, Environment Canada says.
As well, it says the Britannia instrument measuring wind speed recorded a one-minute period at the storm’s height with an average wind speed of 140 km/h.
By comparison, an EF1 tornado has winds of 138 to 177 km/h. That scale goes up to EF5, with winds greater than 322 km/h.
By StittsvilleCentral, September 26, 2017
Ottawa’s new subdivisions may soon have more tree-lined streets, thanks to guidelines received by the City’s Planning Committee today.
The new guidelines offer flexibility to the 2005 Clay Soils Policy when it comes to small and medium-sized trees under certain conditions. With more than half of the vacant land within Ottawa’s urban boundary potentially containing sensitive marine clay soils, this update will increase the number, size and variety of street trees in new subdivisions.
These new tree-planting guidelines are one of the initiatives resulting from the Building Better and Smarter Suburbs project.
By Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen, September 27, 2017
A major mixed-use complex proposed for the junction of the O-Train system is eligible for $8.3 million in fee breaks thanks to a city program that helps builders clean contaminated soil in key areas.
But that’s as far as the discounts should go for now, according to the councillor who represents the property at 900 Albert St., near Bayview station.In a report published Tuesday, the city says it wants to waive an additional $920,000 it would normally demand when developers require city land.