A snowstorm which was among the heaviest in the last 25 years for the month of April sowed chaos in the south of the province on Thursday, plunging hundreds of thousands of Quebecers into darkness and causing several outings. road.
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“There is another branch that fell on my car and it’s a whole branch, it’s as big as a tree trunk,” complained Martin Dion, who feared thousands of dollars in damages.
Martin Dion near his van which received a tree branch during the spring snowstorm in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, in Montreal. This is the second time this situation has happened to him.
Photo Agence QMI, JOEL LEMAY
His van had already been damaged by a first fallen branch a year ago almost to the day, during the ice storm of April 5, 2023.
Photo Agence QMI, JOEL LEMAY
This time, he was the victim of 25 to 30 centimeters of snow which accumulated in different sectors of the greater Montreal region.
The broadside was one of the largest to be recorded for an April since 2000, when 37.7 centimeters fell. Such an abundance is far from common at this time of year, recognizes Réjean Ouimet, meteorologist at MétéoMédia.
Photo Agence QMI, JOEL LEMAY
“It’s normal for us to have snow at this time of year, but we haven’t had it for a long time, so it’s confusing,” said Michèle Fleury, meteorologist with Environment Canada. , recalling that the last big broadsides date back to January.
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Network affected
The Hydro-Québec network was not spared: around 600,000 customers were affected by the storm at one time or another, said a spokesperson for the state-owned company, Louis-Olivier Batty.
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The damage reached its peak with just under 300,000 customers simultaneously out of service Thursday morning.
Around 10:30 p.m., a little more than 67,000 homes were still in the dark, mainly in Montérégie, the Laurentians and the Outaouais.
Employees of the City of Montreal cut fallen branches on Théodore Street in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve.
Photo Agence QMI, JOEL LEMAY
“We had a lot of falling tree branches on the network, damaged electrical poles,” said Louis-Olivier Batty, adding that 1,200 employees had been deployed on the ground.
As of Thursday noon, the City of Montreal had already received 677 requests related to branches broken under the weight of heavy snow.
Dangers on the road
That’s not all, the snowflakes also caused problems for motorists.
“What played spoilsport was the March 15 deadline to put on your summer tires. There are some who have taken advantage of the favorable temperatures of the last few days,” believes Patrick Benoît.
Martin Dion’s van received a tree branch during the spring snowstorm in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, in Montreal, on Thursday April 4, 2024.
Photo Agence QMI, JOEL LEMAY
The traffic columnist at Hi hello counted more than a hundred exits from the road and loss of control in the morning as well as three jackknifings throughout the greater Montreal area.
The largest collision occurred at the start of the day, on Route 235, near Sainte-Sabine, in Estrie.
A driver in his thirties suffered very serious injuries after losing control of his car in a slight curve, said the Sûreté du Québec.
An encouraging sign is that the snow should start to melt on Friday, with temperatures of 4°C expected and the snow changing to rain, said Michèle Fleury.
Everything should have melted by Monday, thanks to the return of the sun and temperatures expected to exceed 10°C.
For this reason, the City of Montreal did not plan a snow loading operation.