Many Quebecers will start their Christmas vacation a day earlier than expected. Schools from all over Quebec have already announced that they will close their doors this Friday.
In Montreal, the Marguerite-Bourgeoys School Service Center has already planned to cancel the last day of school in 2022. Students under the umbrella of the Montreal School Service Center will also be able to stay warm this Friday. “Given the weather conditions and for security reasons, all establishments, daycare services and administrative offices […] will be closed for the whole day tomorrow, December 23,” it was confirmed to the Homework Thursday evening. “No course or distance learning is planned for all primary, secondary and adult students. »
All schools, daycare services and the administrative center of the Center de services scolaire des Laurentides will keep their doors closed on the eve of Christmas “due to the difficult weather conditions”.
Same scenario in Charlevoix, although some daycare services will remain open.
Also in Lac-Saint-Jean, primary and secondary schools will remain closed tomorrow.
In Outaouais, the three French-language school service centers issued the same warning on Thursday.
The majority of Quebec schools have also notified their students of an early leave. Université Laval also canceled all teaching activities on campus on December 23.
The mayor of Quebec, Bruno Marchand, also held a press briefing Thursday morning. He wanted to reassure these fellow citizens. “The city is ready. The crisis unit is activated. […] We prefer a city that is too prepared than a city that is not prepared. So much the better if nothing happens, ”he said.
Hydro-Québec under pressure
The ice storm of the past few days and the approaching storm have placed Hydro-Québec on high alert. Already, high voltage lines have been damaged on the North Shore.
The ice storm in eastern Quebec knocked out three high-voltage lines out of a total of eight on the North Shore, confirms to the Homework the spokesperson for the state corporation, Francis Labbé.
Two of them could be restored soon – “we hope to have good news by the end of the day” – but another could not be repaired until January.
Some hydroelectric power stations have had to stop producing because they cannot export their energy. The new Romaine complex, in particular, has put its activities on hold,
“If it happens as we believe, there would be no supply issues for our residential and commercial customers,” reassures Francis Labbé.
Hydro-Québec monitors the supply of the Alouette aluminum smelter in Sept-Îles in particular. If electricity were to fail there for about ten consecutive hours, the tanks where the metal is poured could freeze, damaging the plant permanently.
Drones to the rescue
The danger comes from the ice that coats the electrical wires, but especially from the wind that causes the cables to oscillate, weighed down by the ice.
Sustained winds of 70 km/h gusting to 110 km/h are forecast for Friday night into the region, according to Environment Canada.
The icebreaking operations currently underway on the North Shore are high-flying, because the damaged lines are “right in the middle of the woods”. Helicopters and drones fly over the area to break the ice “surgically”, explains Francis Labbé. “We use drones to deposit de-icing on the insulators which are frozen. It’s the first time we’ve done this. »
Fortunately, since the 1998 ice storm, Hydro-Québec has changed the technology of its electricity distribution. The cables can break and come loose from the drumsticks, preventing the electric drumsticks from falling like dominoes. “Technologies now allow the wires to unhook while leaving the pestle standing,” says Francis Labbé.
Several teams are therefore deployed or waiting to be deployed. As summarized by a source from the Homework well connected to the operation of Hydro-Québec, “it is sure that there are people who will not spend Christmas at home”.