A severe thunderstorm alert hits southern Quebec on Saturday afternoon, depriving tens of thousands of homes of electricity. In the region, the gusts of wind caused significant damage.
Posted at 11:14 a.m.
Updated at 7:02 p.m.
Environment Canada’s warning extends from Haute-Gatineau to the Laurentides wildlife reserve, and includes Greater Montreal. Meteorologists watch for severe thunderstorms with very strong gusts, hail and rain.
“If you are near a thunderstorm, stop outdoor activities and take shelter,” warns Maxime Perron, Environment Canada meteorologist.
In the Laurentians, violent winds of 90 km/h uprooted trees that fell on roads and electrical wires. Damage was also caused to several houses. “Around my house, it’s full of fallen trees,” says a resident of Saint-Adèle. “A lot of damage, but everyone looks okay,” he said.
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photo taken from twitter @cashonair
According to Hydro-Quebec, 115,108 homes were without electricity at 6:16 p.m. in the Outaouais region.
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photo taken from twitter @geoffmanch
Several trees were uprooted or snapped near Ottawa
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photo taken from twitter @katherinedines
Electric wires are damaged in the Outaouais.
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photo taken from twitter @ismosikat
A tree has been completely uprooted due to strong winds in Ottawa.
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photo taken from twitter @ismosikat
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In Lanaudière too, no more fear of evil. On rue de Florence Jannard, the uprooted trees spared the houses. “But there are a lot of branches in the street,” says the resident of Chertsey. Once the storm passed, the neighborhood got down to cleaning up. “There were lightning, thunder. It was really a big storm,” she says.
According to Hydro-Quebec, 115,108 homes were without electricity at 6:16 p.m. in the Outaouais region and 178,066 in the Laurentians. The state-owned company attributed the outages to “severe thunderstorms.”
Major outages were also reported in Mauricie, Lanaudière and Montérégie. In all, Hydro-Québec reported 718 outages affecting 414,673 homes across the province.
The Sûreté du Québec claims to respond to “several calls due to damage caused by metrological conditions”.
Citizens also reportedly saw a tornado in the Gatineau area, but Environment Canada has not confirmed anything for the moment. “It’s possible, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a tornado,” says Mr. Perron.
A tornado watch will remain in effect for the remainder of the evening in central Ontario.
The storm system is coming in from Ontario, where winds of over 120 km/h were recorded near the border earlier Saturday, and is traveling east. The gusts are now approaching the Mauricie.
If the mercury should once again reach 30 ° C in Montreal on Saturday, there is no other heat wave in sight in the immediate future and temperatures should approach seasonal norms for the next few days.
The return of good weather will be generalized on Monday for National Patriots’ Day. Clear skies are expected and temperatures between 14°C and 20°C depending on the region.
Precipitation is expected Sunday in almost the entire province, from Gatineau to Sept-Îles, via Chibougamau and Greater Montreal. Bad news for residents of Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, where the Ashuapmushuan and Mistassini rivers have reached record levels and the level of Lac Saint-Jean itself is very high. The rain “should maintain these levels until about Monday,” according to Mr. Perron.
In La Tuque, flooding forces the closure of several roads. Residents of Parent are currently isolated, and an emergency airlift has been put in place to ensure the supply of essential goods and urgent medical transport to La Tuque.
Teams from the Ministry of Forests, Wildlife and Parks are also on site to attempt an operation to raise the road surface of a section of forest road 25 between Wemotaci and Parent. “At the moment, we have no idea how long this operation will take and if it will work,” said the City of La Tuque in a press release.
Storm kills at least two in Ontario
A powerful thunderstorm accompanied by strong winds hit southern Ontario on Saturday, killing at least two people and knocking out tens of thousands of homes of power.
Peel Regional Police say a Brampton woman died after being struck by a tree during the storm. Hours later, the Ontario Provincial Police announced that one person had died and two others were injured after a tree fell on a trailer near Lake Pinehurst in Waterloo Region.
Hydro One said more than 70,000 customers, ranging from Sarnia to Toronto, were left without power after the storm downed trees and power lines.
The storm was so powerful that Environment Canada issued an emergency alert on all TV channels, radio stations and wireless phones.
Daniel Liota, an Environment Canada meteorologist, said winds reached speeds of 132 kilometers per hour at the Kitchener airport, prompting officials to issue the warning message.
He added that the geographic extent of the storm was rather unusual.
” It’s really important. We have reached the highest level that a storm can reach. »
Mr. Liota pointed out that powerful thunderstorms had recently been added to the list of events that can trigger the warning system.
According to Alert Ready, which manages the alert system for Canadian governments, this is the first time an emergency alert message has been triggered in four years, since the data was compiled.
To trigger an alert, a thunderstorm must be accompanied by winds reaching at least 130 kilometers per hour or hail with a diameter of at least seven centimeters, or the size of a tennis ball, Liota explained.
With The Canadian Press