In a bid to reconnect all Hydro-Québec subscribers as soon as possible after Saturday’s storm rattled several regions, the state-owned company called in reinforcements.
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“We have drawn on all available resources in Quebec. Today there are 500 teams deployed, which is about 1000 people, and we also have contractors who have been mobilized. People who don’t work for Hydro-Québec but could lend a hand. People in community circles and even teams from New Brunswick who came to help,” said Maxime Huard-Lefebvre, spokesman for Hydro-Québec.
24 hours after the violent storm, Hydro-Québec managed to reconnect 50% of its customers who had lost power.
“The storm cells hit the Outaouais first, then the Laurentians and then Lanaudière, so that’s a lot of places for our teams to visit,” he said.
In addition to the area damaged by the storm, crews at the Quebec electric utility are encountering several problems on the ground that are slowing their work.
“It is the trees on the ground that are blocking the net and that have led to the poles. There are cables that we have to cut before we can carry out the necessary repairs (…) there are also breakdowns in more remote regions that our trucks cannot go to,” said the spokesman.