Thousands without power as strong winds blow through Quebec
Over 60,000 clients were out of electricity, says Hydro-Québec
Hydro-Québec teams are working to restore power after bad weather left thousands of Quebecers without electricity Saturday.
At their peak, strong winds had caused 281 outages across the province.
The Crown corporation reported that 60,300 customers were without power by the end of Saturday afternoon. The situation seemed to get worse every half hour, with the hardest-hit regions being Montérégie and the Laurentians.
Hydro-Québec recorded 93 outages affecting 24,008 customers in Montérégie and 51 outages affecting 12,076 customers in the Laurentians. There were also 22 outages affecting 3,770 customers on the island of Montreal as well as 24 interruptions affecting 4,159 customers in Laval.
In Lanaudière, 5,784 customers were affected by 20 outages. In the Outaouais, there were 34 breakdowns that affected 2,043 customers. In Estrie, 3,837 clients were affected by 27 outages.
The Ministry of the Environment and the Fight against Climate Change had forecast that winds would reach 90 km/h in many regions of Quebec.
By 8 p.m. Saturday, the wind warning was lifted in Montreal, Laval, the Montérégie and the Laurentians.