In early April 2023, Quebec was hit by a severe ice storm that left over one million Hydro-Québec customers without power. The outages were mainly caused by falling branches or trees that gave way under the weight of the ice.
The storm left about 900,000 in Quebec and about 100,000 in Ontario without power Thursday afternoon. The ice storm dropped 0.4 to 1.4 inches of freezing rain Wednesday over areas of eastern Ontario and southern Quebec – with Montreal pelted with between 1 and 1.4 inches of freezing rain, according to Environment Canada. The outages caused by the Quebec storm have led to flooding in Châteauguay, Que., after sewer pumps shut off.
Hydro-Quebec crews have been working around the clock to restore power to affected areas. Hydro-Quebec hopes to restore power to 70 to 80 per cent of customers by Friday night. Hydro-Quebec says it’s not possible to provide a timeline for power restoration, but will give an update at 11 a.m.
Hydro-Quebec says it hopes to reconnect power today to all customers who have been without electricity since last week’s deadly ice storm, but the utility admits some outages will not be resolved before Tuesday. Hydro-Québec says some of the roughly 3,000 remaining outages are in hard-to-access areas or are trickier to resolve, slowing the progress.
The Quebec ice storm has caused several deaths and injuries, and has disrupted daily life for many residents. The storm has also caused significant damage to infrastructure, including sewer pumps that led to flooding in Châteauguay, Que. The Quebec government has declared a state of emergency in response to the storm.
In conclusion, the Quebec ice storm of April 2023 caused widespread power outages that affected over one million Hydro-Québec customers. Hydro-Quebec crews have been working tirelessly to restore power to affected areas, but some outages may not be resolved until Tuesday. The storm has caused several deaths and injuries, and has disrupted daily life for many residents. The Quebec government has declared a state of emergency in response to the storm.
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