The Hurricane Beryl has lost a lot of power. Its “remnants” will arrive in southern Quebec on Wednesday afternoon before continuing on their way to the Maritimes, but only heavy precipitation is expected.
“We can already say that it is no longer a hurricane, that’s for sure. It is not even a tropical storm anymore,” says Simon Legault, meteorologist at Environment Canada.
The hurricane, which made landfall in Texas, lost a lot of power as it traveled the 3,000 km separating it from Quebec. “It lost strength, the wind intensity decreased. We’ll have a little wind eventually, but nothing that will cause damage here,” says Simon Legault.
PHOTO MERIDITH KOHUT, ARCHIVES THE NEW YORK TIMES
Homes damaged by hurricane Beryl on the coast in Surfside Beach, Texas on July 8, 2024.
These “remnants” of the hurricane should take the form of heavy precipitation “a completely normal depression and typical of our latitudes,” specifies the meteorologist. This precipitation will hit the Toronto region during the night of Tuesday to Wednesday or Wednesday morning, before continuing its path towards southern Quebec, then towards the Maritimes.
Heavy rainfall expected
In the Greater Toronto Area, 40 to 60 mm of rain is expected – even more in some places. Torrential downpours generating 20 to 40 mm of rain per hour at times could occur, according to an alert issued by Environment Canada.
In southern Quebec, these precipitations should reach their maximum intensity during the night from Wednesday to Thursday and be accompanied by a few thunderstorms, then stretch out during the day on Thursday. The rains will be especially intense in the regions located south of the St. Lawrence River, near the American border.
In Estrie and southern Montérégie, between 50 and 70 millimetres of rain are expected, as well as moderate winds. Near Montreal, in Centre-du-Québec and Beauce, approximately 30 to 50 mm of rain is expected.
“It’s still substantial, but these quantities shouldn’t cause much damage. The river levels aren’t worrisome; there shouldn’t be many consequences, other than sewer backups in the city, for example,” adds Simon Legault. “So it’s nothing like what we saw further south; it’s certain that it won’t be that scenario at all here.”
The first storm to strengthen into a Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic, Beryl caused at least 10 deaths as it passed over the Caribbean and Venezuela, as well as eight deaths in the southern United States. The tropical storm hit Texas on Monday, knocking out power to nearly 3 million homes and businesses and unleashing heavy rains that led to dozens of rescues.
With information from Agence France-Presse and the Associated Press