Over 360,000 Quebec homes are still without power after heavy snow and freezing rain
The Montreal area is among the hardest hit.
Hydro-Québec says teams are mobilized across the province.
Thousands of Quebecers are waking up in the dark on Tuesday after a messy mix of wet snow, rain, and strong winds caused widespread power outages across the province.
According to Hydro-Québec, more than 360,000 homes and businesses are without electricity as of 9:30 a.m., following the first major snowfall of the season in southern Quebec. What started as a picture-perfect November snowfall on Monday has quickly turned into a headache for many residents, with trees snapping under the weight of heavy, sticky snow.
The Montérégie region is seeing the largest number of outages, with more than 107,000 addresses affected out of 813,000. It's followed by Lanaudière with almost 75,000, and Montreal, where around 47,500 customers are currently in the dark. Other regions hit hard include Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean with about 36,000 outages, Centre-du-Québec with 33,000, the Laurentians with 23,000, and Laval with nearly 20,000.
Hydro-Québec says the cause is the same one that sparks trouble almost every early winter: wet, heavy snow weighing down trees and power lines. "Since many trees still had their leaves, the weight of wet leaves and snow is breaking some weaker branches, which are coming into contact with the power grid," the utility explains on its website. This thick, sticky snow clings to tree limbs, which then bend and break, falling onto electrical lines and cutting service to thousands of homes.
Hydro-Québec says teams are mobilized across the province to restore power "as soon as possible." Line workers are spending the day repairing broken lines and damaged infrastructure. The company is urging residents to check the status of outages using the Info-Pannes app or its online outage map, which is being updated in real time.
As for Montreal's weather, the flurries aren't done yet. Environment Canada says the city could see up to 2 cm of additional snow on Tuesday, with gusts reaching 50 km/h and temperatures around –2°C. More snow is expected overnight, with a low near –1°C.
Wednesday’s forecast brings a mix of snow and rain with a high of 3°C, followed by a 70% chance of rain showers in the evening.
