Over 34,000 Hydro-Québec Customers Are Still Without Power After The Intense Wind Storm
Crews are scrambling to get the lights on again.
A couple of days after a massive wind storm pummelled Quebec, Hydro-Québec crews are still out there scrambling to restore power to over 34,000 customers. On the weekend, over 300,000 customers lost power because of the 100 km/hour winds that battered the province on Saturday and through Sunday.
But even though the winds subsided on Monday, some Hydro-Québec customers still don't have power at their homes.
According to a statement from Hydro-Québec, Montérégie, Laurentides and Outaouais were most affected by outages.
"Hydro-Québec has restored service to about 330,000 customers, 80% of those affected," the statement reads. "At the height of the event, on Sunday at 4 a.m. about 400,000 customers were without power due to strong winds, including gusts of over 100 km/h. At 5 a.m. on Monday, that number fell below 70,000."
As of 10:00 a.m. Monday, that number has dropped to 34,579 customers without power.
Most of the interruptions on Monday are in Montérégie, with 299 service interruptions and 9,176 customers without power. In Montreal, meanwhile, Hydro-Québec reported 14 service interruptions with 1,370 customers without power.
Hydro-Québec says that over 600 workers are in the field.
The Crown corporation has mobilized "crews from Eastern Quebec, less affected by the winds" and "crews from New Brunswick" to work on restoring power to the affected customers.
"There is a lot of work to be done to clear fallen trees and branches from our power system and make the necessary repairs," the company said. "Several locations will require the replacement of poles."