More than 20,000 Quebec households still without power following severe storm

The utility company says the work to repair the electricity network in some isolated areas could last until the beginning of next week.

Power outages persist in the Montreal area nearly 48 hours after severe thunderstorms ripped through southern Quebec, downing trees, snapping poles and breaking wires.

Hydro-Québec reports over 20,000 customers are still without power as of Saturday morning, down from a Thursday evening peak of more than 300,000, with most remaining outages in the regions to the north and south of Montreal.

The utility company says it has restored service to 95 per cent of customers affected by the storm, but work to repair the electricity network in some isolated areas could last until the beginning of next week.

Hydro-Québec says 8% of the almost 500 remaining outages affect 50 customers or fewer.

It says more than 300 outages have lasted more than 24 hours.

Thursday’s storm also caused localized flooding in Montreal, where a city spokesperson said some neighbourhoods received a month’s worth of rain in less than two hours.