The “one of the biggest” breakdowns in its history: it is the rush to the restaurants to warm up in Laval

Of the Laval residents rushed in the businesses on Thursday to warm up as their city experiences “one of the biggest” power outages in its history.

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“It’s madness to look for food. It makes no sense!” exclaims Amal Houari.

The woman had been sitting on the ground with her two children in the middle of a Carrefour Laval hallway for four hours when The newspaper saw her yesterday.

While more than half of Laval homes had spent the day without electricity, she was far from the only one to have had the idea of ​​coming to warm up in the famous shopping center.

At the passage of Log in the afternoon, the places were crowded and families were installed on the ground by the dozen to charge their devices in the precious power outlets.

“I am here for the light first, because I am no longer able to stay in the dark, testifies Jihen Mouhli, also seated very close to a power outlet. Also, it’s warmer, I can charge my cell phone. We wanted to eat something hot.

Longer than expected

Several others instead turned to the few restaurants that had been spared by the major outage, such as Tim Hortons on boulevard des Laurentides.

Among them, Christine Groulx, whose planned activities with her three grandchildren, Mathis, Nathan and Emma, ​​were spoiled by the ice storm.

“We wanted to go to the cinema, but even the cinema is out of order! So we came here, there are so many people!” she confides.

Laval residents in his situation may not be at the end of their sentence, because the situation on Île Jésus will last longer than expected, said Mayor Stéphane Boyer.

“We expect the recovery to be slow,” he explains. We were hopeful that a good part would be settled [jeudi]. Following our discussions with Hydro-Québec, obviously, it will continue, and on Saturday, there is a risk of still having many sectors without electricity.

In response to this bad news, the City decided in the afternoon to open stops Friday evening in community centers.

“Citizens will be able to come and take their shower, warm up, charge the battery of a cell phone or a computer if they wish,” said Mayor Boyer.

Easter in peril?

In front of her residence in Chomedey, Madeleine Halili was trying somehow to clean up her land after huge branches collapsed on it.

She is particularly concerned that the breakdown of which she is also the victim will not be resolved by Saturday evening, when she receives for Easter.

“There are children who have to come. I hope I won’t lose all my fish!”