‘It’s shocking’: Clean-up underway after massive thunderstorm batters Ontario and Quebec

How the storms are affecting Jewish life.
tombstone toppled Ottawa
Storm damage to the Ottawa Jewish cemetery on Bank Street after Saturday's violent weather May 21, 2022. (Brent Taylor photo.)

Canada’s usually festive long weekend was marred this year by a massive thunderstorm, which left at least 10 people dead, cut power to nearly one million homes and saw gusts of 131 km/h ravage communities across Ontario and Quebec.

Still today, days after the storm, more than 120,000 homes in Ottawa remain without power, while officials in Ottawa called the damage worse than during the tornadoes of 2018 or the ice storm of 1998. It’s left Jewish facilities and families struggling to recover as whole swaths of Canada continue to deal with power outages, fallen trees and blocked roads.

The CJN Daily‘s Ellin Bessner spoke with multiple people affected by the storm, including Brent Taylor, the co-chair of the Jewish Memorial Gardens in Ottawa, and a couple who moved into their new home just a week ago—and now have a maple tree collapsed on their roof.

What we talked about:

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The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.

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