Wind, ice and freezing rain cut power to thousands in Quebec and eastern Ontario

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This article was published 25/02/2016 (3650 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MONTREAL – Freezing rain, snow and strong winds caused numerous power outages across southern Quebec, eastern Ontario and southern New Brunswick on Thursday, with the wintry blast leaving treacherous sidewalks, flooding and commuter headaches.

The chilly cocktail, which began a day earlier, created a slushy, slippery mess across Quebec as well as havoc for hydro crews trying to get the grid up and running.

Hydro-Quebec said it was working to restore service as quickly as possible.

“Power should be back for most affected customers by this (Thursday) evening,” the utility said.

But it warned that some Quebecers may have to wait until Saturday as strong winds and freezing rain created tough conditions for its workers.

Terrible road conditions were also causing problems, said Hydro-Quebec president Eric Martel, adding the crews were working against Mother Nature, with Environment Canada calling for temperatures to drop again.

“We are very aware that there is a return of cold temperatures (on Friday), so we’re trying to call in the most workers we can,” Martel said.

“There are some places where we think the outages could extend until Saturday — we’re working at it. It’s a small number but every one is important.”

Hydro-Quebec reported about 66,000 customers were without electricity as of 10 p.m. Thursday, down from a high of about 250,000 earlier in the day. Hydro-One said late Thursday about 5,700 people had no power in Ontario, mostly in the eastern part of the province.

A build up of ice on power lines and equipment had left 2,200 customers with NB Power without electricity in Southern New Brunswick, primarily in the Fredericton and Chipman areas, but that number had dropped to fewer than 100 by late Thursday.

Both Hydro-One, which services mainly rural Ontario, and NB Power said they expected power to be restored by end of day Thursday.

In Quebec, most of the remaining blackouts late Thursday were in the southwestern part of the province, including just over 19,000 in the Laurentians region north of Montreal, about 25,000 northeast of the city and fewer than 4,000 in the Mauricie region.

Hydro-Quebec was getting some help from Hydro Ottawa colleagues and had 350 crews on the road.

In Montreal, pedestrians were forced to walk gingerly and keep an eye on the numerous patches of ice to avoid slipping, while massive puddles awaited them at some intersections.

Some neighbourhoods saw tree branches littering the ground, under the weight of the ice, while certain Montreal neighbourhoods reported flooding from the quick accumulation of precipitation.

With students in primary and secondary schools in Quebec set to go on March break next week, many ended up with an unscheduled day off.

Schools in Quebec city closed, as did at least one junior college, while many other school boards right across the province shuttered the educational institutions for the day.