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 nearly 48 hours after severe thunderstorms ripped through southern Quebec, downing trees, snapping poles and breaking wires.
Hydro-Québec reports over 20,000 customers are still without power as of Saturday morning, down from a Thursday evening peak of more than 300,000, with most remaining outages in the regions to the north and south of Montreal.
The utility company says it has restored service to 95% of customers affected by the storm, but work to repair the electricity network in some isolated areas could last until the beginning of next week.
Hydro-Québec says 8% of the almost 500 remaining outages affect 50 customers or fewer.
It says more than 300 outages have lasted more than 24 hours.
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.
