Over 65k people have lost power in Quebec as freezing rain slams parts of the province

If your lights are flickering or your morning coffee had to wait, you're not alone — tens of thousands of Hydro-Québec customers are without power this Monday, March 31, as a messy mix of freezing rain moves through parts of Quebec.

As of 9 a.m., the number of affected households had climbed to 65,039. According to Hydro-Québec, Lanaudière (28,795) and the Laurentians (24,789) still seeing the worst of it. In Chaudière-Appalaches, nearly 16,700 homes are also without electricity.

Outages have also started creeping into other areas — Montérégie is now at 720, and Montreal is reporting 134 addresses without power.

According to Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), southern Quebec was mostly spared from the more intense ice storm that swept through Ontario over the weekend. But that doesn't mean we're in the clear just yet.

Montreal is in for a rainy Monday, with showers expected throughout the day and an unusually warm high of 15 C. Looking ahead, ECCC forecasts a mix of sun, clouds, and more rain for the rest of the week — so keep the umbrella close by.

In a recent update Hydro-Québec said it's pulling out all the stops in Lanaudière and the Laurentians to restore power as quickly as possible. Due to the sheer number of outages, automatic restoration time estimates have been removed for those regions. Updates will be posted for specific locations as crews get a better sense of timelines.

To track outages in real time, you can check Hydro-Québec's Info-pannes map.

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