Thunderstorms of rare violence shook all of Quebec on Saturday. A torn church steeple, a blown condo building roof, uprooted trees and power outages affecting one household in 10. Mother nature got angry.
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After the hail that hit Montérégie last week, for the second time in May, the province tasted the usually summer vagaries of the weather.
Amélie Fardeau, resident of Saint-Jovite
The hot and humid weather generates “a lot of instability”, points out Mariane Peltier-Champigny, meteorologist at Environment Canada.
Amélie Fardeau, resident of Saint-Jovite
“What is very far from normal is to have such violent storms so early in the summer season, with hail, strong winds, she argues. Usually, before the month of June, it is rather rare.
It is estimated that the winds blew from 100 to 130 km / h, “a phenomenon that we do not have very often in Quebec”, adds Mme Peltier-Champigny.
Amélie Fardeau, resident of Saint-Jovite
Death in Gatineau
Surprised by the sudden and powerful passage of the storm, a 51-year-old woman lost her life after falling from her boat on the Ottawa River in Gatineau in the Masson-Angers sector.
Photo QMI Agency, Jessica Potsou
Several Hydro-Québec poles fell on a road in Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines.
She was accompanied by her husband. The two lost their balance before being pulled out of the water by area residents. The lady, however, was unconscious. His death was later confirmed by authorities.
apocalypse scene
Residents of rue Isabelle-Aubert in the Vanier area of Quebec got the scare of their lives when the roof of a condo building was torn off by the force of tornado-like winds. Debris was blown several hundred meters.
Photo QMI Agency, Marcel Tremblay
Part of the roof of a building was blown by strong winds before landing on this car, on rue Isabelle-Aubert, in the Vanier sector.
Nicole Ratté and Claude Fortin were preparing to eat when a threatening sky appeared. The couple saw it all live. “We squeezed the barbecue, we went inside and then we saw it coming and everything was torn out, the shingles were lifting everywhere”, they mention while the lady was in tears overwhelmed by emotions.
Photo QMI Agency, Marcel Tremblay
Emergency services responded quickly as debris littered the ground everywhere.
At the same time, a motorist traveling on rue Isabelle-Aubert saw death in the face, but fate would have it otherwise. A few seconds earlier and Pierre Boudreau could have been crushed by pieces of the roof. “I was going home after hearing the alert and I saw it all happening in my face. I screwed up the brakes, ”says the man who considers himself lucky in the circumstances.
Ripped bell tower
The storm heavily damaged the Fassett church in Outaouais. The force of the winds completely uprooted the bell tower which detached itself from the religious building. Miraculously, the authorities reported no injuries.
Meanwhile, a woman and her daughter who were trapped in a residence whose roof collapsed were rescued by police in Val-des-Monts. Several residences in the area were damaged by fallen trees
In the Pinehurst Lake area 1:30 a.m. west of Toronto, a person died when a tree fell on a trailer.
Major breakdowns
- Marc Champagne, resident of Mont-Tremblant
- Marc Champagne, resident of Mont-Tremblant
- Marc Champagne, resident of Mont-Tremblant
- Marc Champagne, resident of Mont-Tremblant
- Marc Champagne, resident of Mont-Tremblant
- Marc Champagne, resident of Mont-Tremblant
- Marc Champagne, resident of Mont-Tremblant
- Marc Champagne, resident of Mont-Tremblant
- Marc Champagne, resident of Mont-Tremblant
- Marc Champagne, resident of Mont-Tremblant
In addition, the appalling weather conditions caused hundreds of power outages across the province. More than 514,447 Hydro-Québec customers lost power due to storms and high winds. At the height of power outages in the evening, the regions of the Laurentians (162,000), Lanaudière (116,000), Outaouais (114,000) and Capitale-Nationale (61,000) were the most affected.
emergency alert
Around 6:56 p.m., the emergency alert was heard on cell phones and on televisions in the Quebec region to warn of the possibility of a threatening weather phenomenon that was approaching. The message told people to take shelter immediately during severe thunderstorms.
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