A Big Hydro-Québec Power Outage Has Affected Around 5,000 Customers Near Montreal

Around 5,000 Hydro-Québec customers were without electricity due to power outages on Saturday afternoon.

According to Hydro-Québec's map of ongoing outages, the bulk of the power outages were concentrated on Montreal's south shore in the areas surrounding Sainte-Julie and Boucherville.

The two major power outages began at 11:33 a.m. and 11:51 a.m.

In both cases, Hydro-Québec said crews were working on the issue and service would be restored at around 2:30 p.m or 2:45 p.m., depending on the area.

While the cause of the outages is not known, it should be noted that 20 Quebec sectors are currently under Environment Canada weather alerts due to rainfall, with some regions expecting 50 to 70 millimetres of rain and gusts of wind up to 80 km/h this weekend.

The areas affected by the power outages are not among them. However, Environment Canada has called for rainy weather with a risk of thunderstorms in these regions.

In Montreal, Environment Canada predicted around 30 millimetres of rain with gusts of wind up to 60 km/hr for October 16.

By around 1:15 p.m., a Hydro-Québec update showed that some of the power outages had been resolved, bringing the number closer to 4,000 customers without power in the Montreal area.

This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.