Quebec is still feeling the effects of the storm that swept through Quebec on December 23. Thousands of Quebecers are still groping in the dark, and dozens are recovering from carbon monoxide poisoning.
Updated December 28th
Five days after the storm that plunged thousands of Quebecers into darkness this Christmas, Hydro-Québec is still working to reconnect more than 9,000 customers across the province. Some customers could wait until Thursday.
“There is progress as 95% of customers affected by storm-related power outages have returned to service,” said Lynn St-Laurent, Hydro-Québec’s director of media relations. “However, the remaining 5% is also very important. »
As of Wednesday morning, more than 19,000 Hydro-Quebec customers were still without power. By the end of the evening, that number rose to around 9,400. “We are doing everything we can to restore service in the coming hours. In some cases it could be as late as tomorrow, Ms St-Laurent explained in the middle of the day. It’s difficult to pinpoint because you have to go on site to assess the repairs to be made. »
Repairs affecting multiple customers at the same time
The state-owned company has shared its “recovery strategy” in recent days, which it uses to prioritize the most urgent repairs. First, there are places that pose an immediate threat to public safety, such as hospitals. For residential and commercial customers, Hydro-Québec first prioritizes repairs that benefit the largest possible number of users.
By that logic, Wednesday’s ongoing repairs will affect a smaller number of homes at once in more remote areas. “We have teams that go to the break location on snowshoes,” explains Ms. St-Laurent. These are operations that take longer and when the repair is complete we cannot count thousands [le nombre de clients rebranchés]. »
According to the latest available data, 40% of the outages still ongoing affect 1 to 5 Hydro-Québec customers at the same time, 22% affect 6 to 10 customers, 20% 11 to 20 customers, 12% 21 to 50 customers and 5%, 51 customers or more.
For the fifth straight day, many flights have also been delayed or canceled at Montreal’s Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau Airport.
Dozens of cases of carbon monoxide poisoning
“The Quebec Poison Control Center has identified 65 suspected cases of carbon monoxide poisoning in the past week, while the average number of suspected cases is usually around 15 cases in a week,” Mélanie Otis told La Presse of the CIUSSS de la Capitale-Nationale.
Ms Otis adds that 26 cases of carbon monoxide poisoning have been reported to the health department in this region, which has been particularly hard hit by power cuts. Eighteen cases of carbon monoxide poisoning are being investigated on the North Coast, another region hit by power outages, with seven others in the Mauricie and Centre-du-Québec region.
Two people also died, one in the Quebec region and the other in Mauricie.
Most poisonings are due to generators placed inside buildings, e.g. B. in a basement or garage. “These generators produce a lot of carbon monoxide,” explains Dr. Dominique Buteau, chief physician of the hyperbaric medicine department at the Hôtel-Dieu de Lévis. Propane and charcoal fireplaces or grills were also used inside.
“One often thinks that opening the garage door or opening the basement window is enough to let the carbon monoxide escape, but that’s not true,” adds the doctor. It’s an insidious gas. It’s not called the “silent killer” for nothing. It is odorless and colorless, so you can be poisoned quickly without even realizing it. »
During the night of December 24-25, the Hyperbaric Medicine Service responded to an “avalanche of calls” from emergency departments in various regions regarding poisoned patients. Four of them were treated in Lévis in hyperbaric medicine.
The symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning are varied: headaches, dizziness, weakness, unconsciousness, etc. Severe poisoning can lead to death. And even slight poisoning can leave consequences, reminds Dr. Buteau, such as memory loss, difficulty paying attention, or problems with balance.
National parks closed
The Society of Outdoor Establishments of Quebec (SEPAQ) announced on December 24 the closure of two of its national parks, Jacques-Cartier near Quebec and Monts-Valin in Saguenay. Their reopening is scheduled for December 30, says Simon Boivin, Media Relations Manager for SEPAQ. In the Parc national de la Jacques-Cartier, “the paths are impassable because of fallen trees and broken branches,” he says.
Significant damage was also reported at the Parc national du Bic near Rimouski in Bas-Saint-Laurent. “Most of the trails are inaccessible due to frost or large obstructions caused by the numerous trees that have been blown down by the wind,” points out Mr. Boivin.
As of Wednesday, Pointe-Taillon National Park on the shore of Lac Saint-Jean still has no power but is open to the public.
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1200 number of workers deployed since the storm to repair power outages
Lynn St-Laurent, director of media relations at Hydro-Québec