In photos: Ottawa-area tornado leaves broken power lines, levelled homes, fallen trees in its wake

After destroying dozens of homes in the Ottawa-area neighbourhood of Dunrobin and in Gatineau, Que., a tornado that touched down in Ottawa Friday night left several people injured, including a handful in critical condition.

The tornado hit on Friday evening, demolishing homes in the town of Dunrobin to the northwest of the city before crossing over to the town of Gatineau, which lies directly to the north of Ottawa in the province of Quebec.

While the damage has not yet been assigned a numerical value, the extent of the damage to city infrastructure and pedestrian areas is severe. Hydro Ottawa president Bryce Conrad likened the aftermath of the twister to the devastating ice storm which hit Ottawa in 1998.

Videos and photos posted to social media depict a harrowing scene. The twister tore roofs off homes and overturned cars on Highway 50 — and the cleanup was just beginning on Saturday morning.

The region of Dunrobin experienced significant damage and power is out for tens of thousands of people across the Ottawa-Gatineau region. The hardest hit areas of the city are Dunrobin, Craig Henry, Arlington Woods, the Hunt Club–Riverside area and the Paul Anka–McCarthy area.

High winds damaged part of Ottawa’s major electrical substations and officials said around 200,000 people on both sides of the river were without power. Ottawa and Gatineau together have a population of around 1.3 million people.

Here are some photos of the tornado’s aftermath: 

–With files from Reuters.