Thousands without power as strong winds blow through Quebec
CBC
Bad weather left thousands of Quebecers out of power Saturday.
As of 6:30 p.m, Hydro-Québec said strong winds had caused 281 outages across the province.
The utility reported that 60,300 customers were without power by the end of the afternoon. The situation seemed to get worse every half hour, with the hardest-hit regions being Montérégie and the Laurentians.
Hydro-Québec recorded 93 outages affecting 24,008 customers in Montérégie and 51 outages affecting 12,076 customers in the Laurentians. There were also 22 outages affecting 3,770 customers on the island of Montreal as well as 24 interruptions affecting 4,159 customers in Laval.
In Lanaudière, 5,784 customers were affected by 20 outages. In the Outaouais, there were 34 breakdowns that affected 2,043 customers. In Estrie, 3,837 clients were affected by 27 outages.
Hydro-Québec said its teams are at work trying to restore power.
The Ministry of the Environment and the Fight against Climate Change had forecast that winds would reach 90 km/h in many regions of Quebec.
