More than 44,000 Hydro-Québec customers have been without power since a bus collided with a pylon on Saturday evening on the South Shore of Montreal.
The accident, which occurred at the intersection of Chemin de Chambly and the viaduct leading to Highway 30, left three people injured.
Hydro-Québec hopes to restore power to all affected customers by 5 p.m.
“The maneuvers will take us a good part of the day,” said a spokesperson for the state-owned company, Jonathan Côté.
It was a bus from the Montérégie Auxiliary Firefighters Association that reportedly hit the electricity pylon after leaving the road late in the evening. Another vehicle was also reportedly involved in the accident.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
A bus collided with an electricity pylon.
The impact of the collision caused the electrical structure to collapse, leading to a major failure.
IMAGE TAKEN FROM THE HYDRO-QUÉBEC WEBSITE
Teams of line fitters have been working since early Sunday morning to isolate the break. “Then we will be able to restore power to the line,” explained Jonathan Côté.
Rebuilding the damaged pylon could take several days, he warned. In the meantime, customers will be connected to parallel lines.
“Fortunately, there were no problems with the other lines,” he said.
On social media, Hydro-Québec stressed that this was an “exceptional event, since traffic in this area is at low speed and guardrails are installed along the road.”
Chemin de Chambly is closed in both directions until further notice, in particular to allow reconstruction investigators to reach the scene and analyze the scene.
Route 112 was closed in both directions due to hydroelectric safety issues near the Patenaude Street area, but has since reopened.
Check the status of outages on the Hydro-Québec website
With The Canadian Press