The violent storm that battered southern Quebec Thursday night caused widespread flooding and thousands of homes lost power.
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• Also read: More than 5,000 Hydro Quebec customers still without power
An “explosive” thunderstorm was forecast for Thursday, with hailstones the size of baseballs the size of baseballs, torrential rain and violent winds exceeding 90 km/h, according to Environment Canada meteorologist Jean-Philippe Bégin.
In just one hour, the number of customers without power in Quebec more than doubled, reaching more than 41,000 homes by early Thursday evening, according to Hydro-Quebec reports.
And the regions of Montérégie, Laurentides and Montreal are particularly affected by these disruptions.
“Heat and humidity, a cold front and a lot of headwind momentum: we knew that the conditions were favorable for violent storms,” explained meteorologist Gilles Brien.
On Thursday, Environment Canada issued multiple severe thunderstorm warnings for the Laval, Montreal and Montérégie regions. Several tornado warnings had also been sent in the afternoon.
In the metropolis, the blue line had to stop for several hours during rush hour between Snowdon and Saint-Michel stations because of water entering the tube.
Motorists were also hit by the bad weather as the very heavy and sudden rains caused the water to rise rapidly under certain overpasses.
For example, below Boulevard de l’Acadie, at the entrance to Highway 40, several people had to abandon their vehicles, which got stuck under water.
In Verdun, at the corners of Lanouette and Hickson streets, the water rose rapidly.
“It’s happened several times since I’ve lived here, almost every summer,” said Eric H.
Courtesy of Eric H.
Around 8:45 p.m. Thursday, Environment Canada lifted the severe thunderstorm warnings for the Châteauguay, Montreal, Laval and Longueuil sectors.
As of Thursday night, several warnings were still in effect in Beauce, Mauricie, Estri, Drummondville, La Tuque and Quebec at press time.
In the late evening, 16,000 customers were still without electricity.
Listen to the summary of Florence Lamoureux on the microphone of Philippe-Vincent Foisy on QUB radio: