More than 133,000 homes are still without electricity, three days after the violent storm which proves to be the most destructive for Hydro-Québec equipment for at least a decade, according to the state corporation.
• Read also: Blackouts force school closures. See which establishments are affected.
“It’s one of the very, very big [tempêtes] that we have had in recent years,” said Régis Tellier, vice-president of operations and maintenance at Hydro-Québec, who had not seen such significant damage in more than ten years.
“We are getting into the more major works […]. The further we go, the more difficult it is to find clients for recovery, ”added the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Jonathan Julien, who accompanied Mr. Tellier in a meeting with the media yesterday in Sainte -Adèle in the Laurentians.
Photo QMI Agency, Joël Lemay
In this city where the majority of residents still had no power yesterday, the storm was downright unprecedented, according to several residents interviewed by The newspaper.
“I saw some wind, but nothing like that,” said Réjeanne Arsenault, who notably lived in the Magdalen Islands.
Neighbors helping each other
The municipal administration of Sainte-Adèle had opened the community center yesterday, powered by a generator, so that its inhabitants can supply themselves with water, charge their electronic devices and eat a few bites.
“I see a lot of people going out on the streets, helping each other. We invite the citizens to knock on their neighbors, to make sure that everyone is correct, ”specifies the municipal councilor Alexandre Laganière, met on the spot.
In Sainte-Lucie-des-Laurentides, the Domaine Vacances Doncaster campsite opened its doors yesterday to residents of the area who were still without electricity.
Photo QMI Agency, Joël Lemay
“We saw that some of our street neighbors had no more water and could not take a shower. […] As we are operational with generators, we decided to offer our fellow citizens drinking water, hot showers and means of recharging their cellphones”, specifies its owner Mélanie Boutin.
Although more than two-thirds of the 550,000 customers who suffered outages on Saturday had been reconnected by Hydro-Quebec last night, more than 165,000 customers were still without power.
The state-owned company had said a few hours earlier that it hoped to reconnect 80% of these homes by the end of the day yesterday, a proportion which was more like around 70%.
Most of the outages were in the Laurentians (73,439), Lanaudière (33,165) and Outaouais (26,080).
The death toll from Saturday’s severe thunderstorms rose to 10 yesterday with the death of a man crushed by a tree in Peterborough, Ontario. Remember that the only Quebec victim is a 51-year-old woman who died after falling into the Ottawa River.
–With QMI Agency
Uproar of hell
The small municipality of Fassett in Outaouais is just beginning to recover from its emotions after seeing the steeple of its church detach from the building now for commercial purposes.
Mayor François Clermont admits his citizens had a narrow escape. Despite uprooted trees, broken windows and, of course, a bell tower literally torn from its structure, no one was injured.
“Several residences were damaged, debris was thrown into windows, but luckily people were inside,” said the mayor, who also mentioned that even for the oldest citizens, the storm was unheard of. Very few residents saw the steeple fall, but everyone who was contacted by The newspaper talked about one hell of a racket.
– Louis Deschenes
A candlelight wedding
When the storm hit the Laurentians, Tyler Jackson and Diana Moreno were preparing to get married outside their Sainte-Adèle home.
“We heard all the alerts and transferred everything inside,” says Ms. Moreno.
Then, five minutes before the ceremony began, in their living room, the electricity went out. A candlelight wedding followed.
“It was ultimately a very romantic event,” she laughs.
Unlike many neighbours, the couple had very little damage to their wooded lot.
“We were very lucky. We were scared because we saw all the broken trees around,” says Ms. Moreno.
– Camille Paying
Nearly 400 trees uprooted
Saturday’s storm hit the La Vallée de Sainte-Adèle golf club hard.
“I’ve been working in the golf industry for more than 30 years and this is the first time I’ve seen such violent winds. I saw trees crack in the parking lot,” says Daniel Corbeil (photo), the club professional.
Twenty golfers were then in the middle of their game when the storm passed, around 5:30 p.m.
“Some people were scared. We are lucky, we had no injuries, ”says Mr. Corbeil.
Nearly 400 trees were then uprooted, most of them around the land. Dozens of people were still busy cleaning the golf course yesterday and hope it will open by the weekend.
– Camille Paying
A first in Quebec since 1999
The deadly storm that hit Ontario and western Quebec is a derechoa meteorological phenomenon rarely observed in Quebec.
A derechowhich means straight ahead in Spanish, is “a very powerful line of thunderstorms taking shape in the American Midwest,” says Antoine Petit, a meteorologist with Environment Canada.
It is characterized by winds exceeding 100 km/h and a stormy formation that extends over several hundred or even several thousand kilometers.
“It is rare that it will overflow in Canada, except the extreme south of Ontario”, continues Mr. Petit, specifying that the last one having hit Quebec dates back to 1999.
– Felix Pedneault, QMI Agency