Hydro-Québec deploys generators to restore power to most of Montreal's Saint-Michel neighbourhood

Hydro-Québec says power should be restored by the end of Tuesday to parts of Montreal's Saint-Michel neighbourhood after three days without electricity. 

The outage which affected about 1,200 homes and businesses began Saturday at around 2:40 a.m. in an area near Pie-IX Boulevard between 44th Street and 54th Street.

Hydro-Québec said it was able to restore service to the problematic power line at around 5:30 p.m. on Monday, but an hour later, the power went out again.

By Monday night, about a quarter of the affected customers had power back thanks to mobile, diesel-powered generators. 

In an update from Hydro-Québec Tuesday evening, the utility said its generators have now brought back power to over 75 per cent of the affected customers. Fewer than 250 clients are still without power, Hydro said.

Additional generators are on the way for the remaining homes and businesses without power and will remain in place until the issue is fixed.

WATCH | Here's how 3-day power outage is affecting residents: 

Living in cars, spoiled food: Some Montrealers left without power for days

9 days ago

Duration 1:39

People living in part of the city’s Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension borough are frustrated with Hydro-Québec after waiting days for the utility to restore power during an outage as winter set in.

"These are mobile generators that are the size of an 18-wheeler, which makes their installation complex in an urban setting, but we're putting forth all the necessary efforts with multiple teams," reads the statement from Hydro-Québec.

Hydro-Québec said the root of the problem is in its underground network. 

"As for the work to repair the power line, our teams are still on the field to try and locate the source of this outage and fix it to restore service as quickly as possible."

The borough of Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension opened three shelters for families to stay overnight and keep warm:

• The René-Goupil pool located at 4250 Parc-René-Goupil Street.
• The Saint-René-Goupil church located at 4251 Parc-René-Goupil Street.
• The Saint-Michel Arena located at 3440 Jarry Street East.

The borough is providing updates on its Facebook page about support for affected residents.

Hydro-Québec says it has 14 teams on the field working to fix the problem.