A week has passed since a devastating storm swept through the Canadian capital Ottawa, causing power outages for tens of thousands of people.

As of Saturday evening, about 18,000 homes and businesses are still in the dark.
 

In the south of the Canadian capital, in the South Keys area, trees fell and leaves covered the roofs.

Stacey Autley, a resident whose home suffered severe damage in the storm, told local media agencies, "I'm not sure what's going on."

She explained, "It has been very disappointing and more than a week has passed without services being restored."
 

She added, people are trying to clean up and manage the losses because they are also not dealing with electricity or hot water.

She said, "We have insurance, but it is still expensive because we have to pay upfront for the tree worker, and that equals $1,400 per hour because it is an emergency situation."

Technical crews to repair the power lines are stationed throughout the city as they focus on the most affected neighborhoods.

Joseph Moggia, Operations Manager at Hydro Ottawa, said, "This has been a widespread blow to our city."

Explaining, "There is a huge amount of trees on the wires and broken poles that we are still dealing with."

Adding, as Hydro Ottawa enters the final phase of restoration, there is a goal, but no firm commitment to restore power by the end of the weekend.

Moggia also said, "This is our goal and definitely to reduce that number to zero as much as we can, and that is definitely our goal."

The damage is widespread as people rely on generators for power.

Shira Schwartz, a resident of Ottawa, said, "During all daylight hours and most of the night as well, there are generators running."

The City of Ottawa began distributing cleanup kits today Saturday to residents in need.

Michelle Opteis, who has been without power for eight days, said, "I decided to have coffee, charge, and thought I would get a kit just to help some neighbors in the area." Helping others is a welcome distraction for Opteis as she continues to deal with a very stressful and difficult situation.

Adding, "The energy and capacity decline has started reaching many of us."

Adding, "Many of us have started feeling some pain and sadness."

As city workers continue going from street to street to remove storm debris, it is clear this will take weeks, so the municipality has begun asking citizens to volunteer to help clean the neighborhoods where they live at least.