35 days
PHOTO BERNARD BRAULT, PRESS ARCHIVES
Pylons collapsed under the weight of the ice, January 11, in Montérégie
The crisis lasts 35 days. Under accumulations of up to 100 millimeters of ice, the Hydro-Québec network collapsed. Some 24,000 wooden poles, 900 pylons and 3,000 kilometers of power lines were cut down. At the height of the crisis, 1.4 million subscribers, or 3.5 million people, lived in the dark; 598 municipalities (out of 1421) in Quebec, 48 RCMs and two urban communities are affected. The Red Cross and its 3,300 volunteers are opening 450 shelters in Quebec, Ontario and New Brunswick.
Hydro-Quebec in the field
PHOTO DENIS COURVILLE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Hydro-Québec employees at work on the South Shore, in the Saint-Hyacinthe region, on January 9
As of January 6, when 750,000 Hydro-Québec customers were without power (around 4 p.m.), the Crown corporation dispatched 590 teams of pruners and linemen to the field. On January 8, there were 1,209 teams at work in the affected regions, to which were added 400 teams of American workers (linemen). On Friday, January 30, while the crisis is being resolved, Hydro-Québec is still deploying 1,412 teams of linemen, 92 of pruners and 68 of pole installers.
More than 15 000 soldiers
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, ARCHIVES LA PRESSE
Soldiers in the streets of Montreal
At the request of the Premier of Quebec, Lucien Bouchard, the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) are deployed in several regions of Quebec. They will also go to neighboring provinces. In all, 15,784 soldiers, including 3,740 reservists, are on the ground. Operation RECOVER is initiated. It will cost a total of 105 million.
A note on the table
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, ARCHIVES LA PRESSE
Chaos in the streets of Montreal, January 9
The CAF are on the ground with 232 vehicles, 30 trailers and 29 Griffon helicopters. Warrant Officer Jean-François Tremblay, then a corporal at the Valcartier base, took part in the rescue. “We were called around 4:30 p.m. to tell us to return to the regimental lines at 6:30 p.m. I left the house, leaving a note for my spouse on the table. She suspected that I would leave because of my job! We took six hours to get to Montreal. »
A studied event under all its facets
The 1998 storm is a reference among case studies in meteorology. In Quebec, it has been studied extensively.
Julie Mireille Thériault, from the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences (UQAM), and holder of the Canada Research Chair in Extreme Winter Weather Events
The turtleneck by André Quail
PHOTO PIERRE MCCANN, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Premier Lucien Bouchard and André Caillé on January 8, 1998 during one of their many press conferences
One of the symbols of this crisis was the turtleneck sweater worn by André Caillé, CEO of Hydro-Québec. Steve Flanagan, then spokesman for the Crown Corporation, recounts. “On Wednesday January 7, I was with Mr. Caillé, who arrived from Paris, in Saint-Hyacinthe. He was cold and we were looking for something to give him. His driver had the famous white turtleneck in his vehicle. That’s what he was wearing that same day at 10 p.m. Telejournal. After the interview, Mr. Caillé said: “I will keep him until the situation returns to normal.” It was his way of showing that he was with the workers. »
The fear of miss water
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Rue de Chateaubriand in Montreal, January 15
On Friday, January 9 at 12:38 p.m., the two drinking water production plants in Montreal, Atwater and Des Baillets, ceased to operate. There is no more current. Montreal is in the dark. Mayor Pierre Bourque asks for help from Quebec and Hydro-Quebec. Montreal was only supplied with electricity by a single wire. The metro also stopped working. Finally, two of the five pumps at the Des Baillets plant start operating again at 3:33 p.m. In the evening, everything returns to normal.
The Red Cross and the government
PHOTO ARMAND TROTTIER, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Lodging in the Saint-Hyacinthe region
While opening 450 shelters, the Red Cross collected nearly 11 million in donations. “As we had a foothold in the shelters, we transmitted information directly from the field to government authorities,” said Josée Payant, then director of domestic and international operations for the Red Cross for Quebec.
20,000 cubic meters
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Mount Royal Park, January 10
In Montreal, it is the volume of fallen branches sent to the Saint-Michel environmental complex to be chipped. Elsewhere in Quebec, the most significant damage to trees concerns stands of lesser commercial value (such as gray birch) and young trees. In Montérégie and Centre-du-Québec, the sugar maple stand is seriously affected. Red maples, trembling aspen and beech trees are also very affected.
INFOGRAPHIC THE PRESS
30 dead
The ice storm killed 30 people in Quebec. The victims range in age from 10 to 93. The causes are varied: hypothermia, falls from a roof, fires, carbon monoxide fumes, etc.
Solidarity and resourcefulness
One of the lessons of the January 1998 ice storm is, without a doubt, the importance of solidarity, resilience, ingenuity, the resourcefulness of disaster victims. These qualities reflect a valuable characteristic of Quebec society. No civil security system can replace the dynamism and self-sufficiency of the community during the critical hours of the onset of a disaster that strikes them.
Roger Nicolet, President of the Scientific and Technical Commission responsible for analyzing the events relating to the ice storm that occurred from January 5 to 9, 1998
Sources: Canadian Armed Forces; HydroPresse, January 2018, hydroquebec.com/glaze-1998; Canadian Red Cross; Quebec Coroner’s Office; Montreal Archives; Scientific and Technical Commission responsible for analyzing the events relating to the ice storm that occurred from January 5 to 9, 1998; Jennifer Milton and Alain Bourque, Climatological account of the January 1998 ice storm in QuebecEnvironment Canada, September 1998.