A week after the storm that swept across Quebec just in time for the holidays, nearly 5,500 Quebec homes are still without power. However, new outages have been added to the network due to melting snow, says Hydro-Québec.
The number of Quebec homes without electricity continued to decrease drop by drop during the day on Thursday. At the end of the day the day before, more than 9,000 people were still waiting to be reconnected in the province.
At the end of the afternoon on Thursday, the balance sheet fell to 5,541 customers without electricity.
However, all these outages are not related to the storm of December 23, argues Lynn St-Laurent, head of media relations at Hydro-Québec. “With the softening and the increase in temperature, there is snow melting. It creates weight on branches already weakened by strong winds. »
In the Laurentians region, a hundred outages were added on Thursday, said Régis Tellier, vice-president of operations & maintenance at Hydro-Québec in a video posted Thursday on the Facebook page of the state-owned company.
In total, 97% of outages related to the storm itself are resolved, says Mme St-Laurent. “The remaining 3% of breakdowns are more complex. These breakdowns require more travel in difficult areas, or they are more important breaks. In some cases, the network must be rebuilt in the affected section. Sometimes you have to go up a new post, ”she cites as an example.
In the same Facebook video, Julie Sbeghen, the senior director of operations & maintenance for Centre-du-Québec, talks in particular about fifty electric poles that would have fallen due to gusts on the site of a breakdown that she visited.
Priority to those who have been waiting longer
Currently, 80% of outages on the Hydro-Québec network involve 1 to 20 customers at a time, according to Ms.me St-Laurent. “Obviously, we prioritize people who have been without service for longer,” she says.
About 1,300 workers are still deployed in the province.
The Capitale-Nationale region is the most affected by these blackouts, with 1,678 homes plunged into darkness. The Laurentians come in second place with 1,583 customers without power.
“No customer will be forgotten, and if you have been out of order for several days, you are our priority,” says Hydro-Québec on its Facebook page. We will work hard as long as there are down customers. »