A pedestrians runs through a rainstorm Thursday, July 13, 2023 in Montreal. Power outages persist in the Montreal area after severe thunderstorms ripped through southern Quebec on Thursday, downing trees, snapping poles and breaking wires. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz
MONTREAL – Power outages persist in the Montreal area 48 hours after severe thunderstorms ripped through southern Quebec, downing trees, snapping poles and breaking wires.
Hydro-Québec reports more than 8,100 customers are still without power as of Saturday afternoon, down from more than 20,000 earlier in the day and a Thursday evening peak of more than 300,000.
There are 182 ongoing outages, down from more than 500 Saturday morning, with most remaining blackouts in Montreal and the regions to its north and south.
The utility company said Saturday morning that work to repair the electricity network in some isolated areas could last until the beginning of next week.
Around 400 Hydro-Québec teams were in the field working to restore electricity to affected areas Saturday.
Thursday’s storm also caused localized flooding in Montreal, where a city spokesperson said some neighbourhoods received a month’s worth of rain in less than two hours.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 15, 2023.
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This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship.
