Hydro-Québec has restored power to most of its customers in southern Quebec after Thursday’s spring snowfall, but several tens of thousands of users have to wait a little longer.
Around 8 a.m. Friday, the state company reported that just under 50,000 customers were still without electricity, including more than 16,000 in the Laurentians. At the height of the event, Thursday morning, nearly 300,000 subscribers were affected by service interruptions, including 100,000 in Montreal.
In Outaouais, the outages still affect more than 11,000 subscribers, while in Montérégie, around 6,000 do not have access to power. A little more than 4,000 residents are without electricity on the North Shore.
In an update provided Friday morning, Hydro-Québec noted that since the start of the storm, its teams have managed to restore power to 82% of customers who were affected by an outage at one time or another.
The state-owned company hopes to be able to restore service to “the vast majority of customers during the day” on Friday. It has 600 teams on the ground, which represents around 1,200 people.
Many households will have to wait a little longer, however, because some breakdowns are more difficult to repair. According to Hydro-Québec, nearly 30% of the remaining outages affect five customers or fewer, which means that the same effort deployed by its teams makes it possible to reconnect fewer customers at a time.
“In several places, we observed significant damage, such as poles and other equipment that will need to be replaced. Power lines are found on the ground due to strong gusts or under the weight of broken tree branches,” explained the state-owned company, adding that the snow that fell Thursday was “abundant and three to six times heavier than the usual snow.”
According to data provided by Environment Canada, more than 30 cm of snow had fallen in Montreal on Thursday at 4 p.m. In Longueuil, we observed 30 cm of snow, while in Granby, accumulations were around 29 cm.
Gatineau received 5 to 10 cm of snow and Lanaudière 12 cm, said the federal agency, which specified that the data could be updated Friday as the storm continues its path towards the east of the province.
Moreover, snow warnings published by Environment Canada are still in effect Friday morning for certain sectors of Charlevoix, the North Shore and Gaspésie.
In these locations, snow is expected to continue to fall until Saturday morning, for a total of 25 cm. For the eastern Gaspésie, we could even receive 30 to 40 cm of snow by Saturday afternoon.
The winds will also need to be monitored. Environment Canada warns that easterly winds blowing up to 80 km/h along the coast will reduce visibility in blowing snow.
“Surfaces such as roads, streets, sidewalks and parking lots may become difficult to navigate due to snow accumulation. The rapid accumulation of snow could make travel difficult in some places,” the federal agency said.