The alternation of rain, snow and squalls that hit the province on Friday complicates the lives of thousands of Quebecers plunged into darkness on the eve of the holidays… and that of Hydro-Québec workers who are trying to restore power.
“Forget it, we’re not getting out of here for Christmas.” We will wait to get power to move, ”says René Tardif, leaning on his shovel in front of his house in Gore, in the Laurentians. At the start of the afternoon, the 69-year-old man looks with discouragement at the carpet of wet, heavy snow that has already accumulated in his driveway since the first morning shoveling.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
A Hydro-Québec truck in a snowy row in the municipality of Gore, in the Laurentians
The couple has been without electricity since 6:45 a.m. Friday morning, explains his spouse, Josée Mayer. Like more than 30,000 other households in the region, moreover, and more than 340,000 Hydro-Québec customers across the province at the end of the afternoon.
They therefore have no heating, no access to the telephone (a fixed line) nor to the Internet or television to follow the evolution of the situation.
Isolated in a path in the forest, they hope to be able to count on a snow removal company to come and clear their entrance. Worried, they decided to cancel their plans for Christmas.
The Laurentians region received a large amount of snow overnight from Thursday to Friday, explains a resident of the village of Mille-Isles, also without electricity. Then the gusts arose. In the afternoon, mist, wind, rain and sleet followed one another on the small mountain paths.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Snow removal in a neighborhood of St-Jérome, in the Laurentians
Between the branches of the conifers, the echoes of the wind gave this holiday eve a gloomy air, under a steely sky.
Hydro-Québec at work
Speaking of holidays – or rather the absence of holidays – some 1,100 Hydro-Quebec employees were busy Friday trying to restore power to Quebec homes before December 25. Among them, Mathieu Gagnon was working on a breakdown that occurred in the municipality of Saint-Lin–Laurentides.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
The driver of a pick-up truck lost control of his vehicle on Chemin de la Rivière-du-Nord to end his race against a power pole, causing a breakdown.
While heavy snow, ice and tree limbs were responsible for power outages across the province, here it was human error that compelled employees of the Crown corporation to work in freezing rain and slush.
The driver of a royal blue F-150 pickup truck lost control of his vehicle on Chemin de la Rivière-du-Nord to end his race against a power pole.
A cable has come loose and the area must be secured. At the end of the afternoon, the sun is rapidly setting. Dressed in dry suits, helmets, goggles, boots and gloves, Mathieu Gagnon and his team are still far from finished.
A weather yoyo in Montreal
The metropolis was relatively spared by the storm and the power outages, with heavy rain, hail in places, and even a few rays of sunshine in the afternoon.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Steve Messier was working to make trash cans, park benches and church squares accessible to neighborhood residents on Friday.
“We are ready, we are here! “, launched Steve Messier, shovel in hand, at the corner of rue Sainte-Catherine Ouest and avenue Union on Friday morning. Its task: to make garbage cans, park benches and church squares accessible to neighborhood residents.
With the students on holiday, the streets were pretty quiet, but the weather didn’t stop visitors heading downtown for their last Christmas shopping.
“We thought it would be worse than that! “, rejoiced Véronique Brodeur, met in front of La Baie d’Hudson, in the company of her daughter and another 13-year-old teenager. The trio arrived from Mauricie on Thursday. “The weather was nice, we hadn’t checked the weather forecast,” she adds. The plan for the day: take advantage of the Montreal shops before heading east again, hoping that the road conditions will be safe.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Young Joséphine Perani (left) took advantage of this day off to play with the giant dominoes in Square Phillips.
A little further on, in Square Phillips, the young Joséphine Perani plays with the giant dominoes installed on the spot. It’s the joy of an unexpected day off for this student from Montreal.
A few steps away, Christine Farran, who lives in Réunion, a French department in the Indian Ocean, has been visiting Montreal for a week. “I don’t know what it normally looks like, a snowstorm,” she remarks. For her, the white carpet still in place is already impressive.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
The Press ran into Paul de Bellefeuille in front of the Hudson’s Bay store on Sainte-Catherine Street.
“We’re lucky, it’s mild,” also underlines Paul de Bellefeuille, who hands a glass to passers-by at the entrance to the Hudson’s Bay store to collect small change. The awning of the historic store protects it well from bad weather, but not from lack of traffic.
After a rainy day, the wind picked up in the early evening in the metropolis, carried by an icy front and transforming, in places, the roadway and sidewalks into ice rinks.