A man lost his life Friday, poisoned with carbon while trying to warm up, in Saint-Joseph-du-Lac. In the province, his death is added to that of a sexagenarian, Thursday, crushed by a branch. Two days after the ice storm, Prime Minister François Legault issued a new call for caution, as hundreds of thousands of Quebecers could remain without electricity on Saturday.
The 75-year-old man was found unconscious in his residence in Saint-Joseph-du-Lac. There was “a generator that worked in the garage,” said Jean-Philippe Labbé, inspector of investigations at the Régie de police du Lac des Deux-Montagnes. Firefighters estimated that there was “20 times more” carbon dioxide in the air than the norm, he said. The death of the man was declared at the hospital of Saint-Eustache.
In Montreal and Laval alone, at least 82 people have been assessed for carbon monoxide poisoning since Wednesday, according to Urgences-santé.
“The generators have to be some distance from the house because it emits gas. You have to be careful with the devices that you come in or that are close to the house, “said Prime Minister François Legault to the media.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
The Premier of Quebec, François Legault, at a press briefing at Coteaux, in Montérégie, on Friday
He had gone to Coteaux, in Montérégie, where a sixty-something man lost his life while cutting branches on his land on Thursday. A 59-year-old man from eastern Ontario also died after being crushed by a tree branch, Radio-Canada reported, bringing the death toll from the storm to three.
Heating or cooking appliances like a barbecue should never be used indoors, authorities have reminded.
“You really, really shouldn’t use this kind of equipment in the home. It can cause very serious health problems,” said Simon Bilodeau, head of emergency measures at the Montreal Regional Public Health Department.
Customers without electricity
Friday, Hydro-Quebec was confident to be able to reconnect 800,000 customers by the end of the day, she announced during a press briefing.
In total, more than 600,000 customers have regained power since Wednesday, but there were still nearly 311,000 in the cold and the dark, around 11 p.m. Friday.
Unfortunately, some customers will not have power until Sunday, maybe even Monday, warned the vice-president, operations and maintenance, at Hydro-Quebec, Régis Tellier.
” [Vendredi]approximately 80% of residences will be reconnected, and by [samedi]it will be 95%, ”reassured Prime Minister François Legault.
After being suspended for the night, reconnection efforts resumed early Friday morning for another 16-hour day. At 10 p.m., there were nearly 185,000 customers without electricity in Montreal, 38,000 in Montérégie, 31,000 in Laval and 30,0000 in UtaYeah.
A total of 1,400 fitters were deployed in the field to continue the operation. Due to the gusts that blew across the province on Friday, Hydro-Quebec was unable to estimate when each household will be reconnected.
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Régis Tellier, Vice-President, Operations and Maintenance, at Hydro-Québec
It would be a little premature for me to immediately throw out a figure for the last customer. We know that there are customers for whom it will go until Sunday, potentially Monday.
Régis Tellier, Vice-President, Operations and Maintenance, at Hydro-Québec
“We are very satisfied with the management of the crisis by Hydro-Québec”, underlined the Minister of Economy, Innovation and Energy, Pierre Fitzgibbon, in a press briefing.
Quebec’s energy network is reliable, he assured once again. Here, it is the vegetation that is in question, and not the network as such, he added. “Hydro-Québec has doubled its investment in vegetation control. That’s the big problem: 40% of outages come from that,” Mr. Fitzgibbon argued.
Internet outages
In telecommunications, the repercussions of power outages are still being felt. Several Internet users reported outages of telephone and Internet services on Friday.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
Trees collapsed in the yard of a resident of Hudson, Montérégie.
At Videotron, 60% of customers affected by service interruptions due to the ice storm resumed their services around 4:30 p.m., the company’s public affairs team said by email.
“The vast majority of service interruptions are explained by power outages that affect our equipment, but also by certain wires and structures damaged by the ice. This could in particular lead to interruptions of internet, TV, wired and wireless telephony services, “said Videotron.
“Even if the power supply is back in an area, it is possible that telecommunications services will remain affected because they too depend on the state of the electrical network,” warned the supplier.
On the Bell side, more than 1,000 employees are in the affected communities to restore services.