The City of Montreal announced Tuesday that it was closing its shelters for disaster victims, six days after the freezing rain storm which deprived tens of thousands of people of electricity in the metropolis.
Citizens whose residence has not yet been reconnected will still be able to obtain assistance from municipal services, but individually rather than collectively.
“If you need help, we will continue to provide you with help,” assured the head of the Montreal Fire Department (SIM), Richard Liebmann. “The good news is that Hydro-Québec is continuing to make progress in restoring electricity throughout the territory, but we won’t let anyone down. »
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
Alain Vaillancourt, head of public security on the executive committee of the City of Montreal, and Richard Liebmann, civil security coordinator and head of the Montreal Fire Department
In all, 138 people spent at least one night in one of the eight shelters opened by the City of Montreal, according to Mr. Liebmann.
On the official level, the Montreal Civil Security Center (managed by the SIM) switches this Tuesday from “intervention” mode to “recovery” mode.
Alain Vaillancourt, elected head of civil security on the executive committee of the City of Montreal, said that the firefighters would do “a good retrospective” of the last few days in order to learn lessons from the freezing rain storm. Will the lack of pruning of City-owned trees near power lines be investigated? “We have to look at issues such as pruning trees, working with Hydro-Québec to ensure that the lines are [dégagées], he said. We will look into the question. This is an issue that needs to be looked at. »
Mr. Vaillancourt did not want to advance on the deadlines for complete cleaning of the city.
The Mayor of Montreal did not participate in the SIM press briefing. However, she went to Parc La Fontaine with the mayor of Plateau-Mont-Royal, an activity to which the media were not invited.