Nearly 640,000 homes were plunged into darkness late Wednesday afternoon amid an ice storm in southern Quebec.
• Also read: [EN IMAGES] Ice storms, sleet and strong winds: An impressive system hits southern Quebec
The number of Quebecers living without electricity steadily increased as the Depression moved east.
The freezing rain of the last few hours is currently causing a stir #glitches in several regions of Quebec. Failures are primarily caused by weight #Black ice resulting in branches and trees near the power grid breaking and coming into contact… pic.twitter.com/mGQjGJlgHj
— Hydro Quebec (@hydroquebec) April 5, 2023
Photo agency QMI, Maxime Deland
After a large part of the Outaouais was deprived of electricity, including virtually all of the MRC des Collines-de-l’Outaouais, the storm moved into the urban area and rapidly increased the number of power outages.
ICE | BUG UPDATE | 2:45 p.m
Now 84% of the subscribers in the MRC des Collines area are without power. #policemrc— Police MRC des Collines (@Police_MRC) April 5, 2023
Thus, at 5 p.m., the Outaouais had nearly 117,000 breakdowns, Montreal nearly 300,000 and Montérégie nearly 170,000.
- Listen to the interview with Caroline Desrosiers, spokeswoman for Hydro-Québec, on QUB radio:
The Laurentians (22,000) and Laval (12,800) were relatively spared during the day as the ice storm hit Montreal Island and the south coast hardest.
Hydro-Quebec said there were about 500 people on site to try to restore power as soon as possible.