The storm of May 21, which deprived more than 550,000 Quebec customers of electricity, cost Hydro-Québec more than $70 million.
Posted at 3:35 p.m.
On May 21, a storm front moving more than 300 km hit Quebec and caused 11,254 outages across the province. In total, 554,649 customers lost power and infrastructure suffered significant damage.
“This is one of the events that required the most work on the ground since the 1998 ice storm,” Hydro-Québec said in a press release. The most affected regions were the Outaouais, the Laurentians, Lanaudière, Mauricie and the Capitale-Nationale.
For 11 days, 2,000 Hydro-Québec employees worked to repair the 1,125 electrical poles and 400 damaged transformers, while 40 km of electrical wires had to be installed. The company estimates the cost of this work at more than 70 million.
Although 85% of customers regained power after 72 hours, more than 20,000 of them had to wait more than 5 days.
Hydro-Québec warns the public that the work caused by the storm will lead to delays in certain interventions and the connection times for new facilities in the coming weeks.