Weather woes continue amid train cancellations, multi-vehicle pileups near Montreal

A helping of snow, ice and wind made it hard to get around on Christmas Eve, the day after a ferocious winter storm lashed the province and knocked out power for hundreds of thousands of Quebecers. 

At least 12 vehicles, including cars, SUVs and a heavy truck, crashed into each other on the Île-aux-Tourtes bridge, on Montreal's western tip, blocking the eastbound lanes. By 1:40 p.m., the lanes were reopened. In Mirabel, north of the city, another multi-vehicle accident blocked southbound traffic on Highway 15 Saturday morning but by early afternoon, the roadway was clear.  

Gilles Payer, a spokesperson for the Transport Ministry, said roads were possibly even worse in the Abitibi, Saguenay and Beauce regions, which were lashed hardest by Friday's storm. 

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But every road in the province was affected somehow, he said. Some roads are ice-covered, some snow-covered and visibility was highly variable: good in some places, bad in others and "even zero in many places."

Power outages

The difficult road conditions were also hampering Hydro-Québec crews trying to restore power to nearly 300,000 customers, most of them in the Quebec City area.

Fewer than 200,000 customers were without electricity by 6 p.m. Saturday.

At the peak of the storm on Friday, as wind gusts toppled hydro poles in some areas, 380,000 customers were without electricity.

Éric Filion, the Crown utility's executive vice-president, said the sheer number of outages was straining Hydro-Québec crews. Most of the outages in the province were small ones that affected only a few customers each.

"The issue behind this," he said, "is that it requires a lot of teams on the ground to address these issues."

Filion said 12,000 workers were out fixing the electricity distribution network. He hoped crews would have power back for most people by Sunday evening — in time for Christmas dinner. 

Sophie Brochu, the chief executive officer of Hydro-Québec, warned drivers to be careful if they saw workers trying to repair wires. "When you see hydro teams, go slowly," she said. "There are people working in risky situations."

Quebec City

For Quebec City, Friday's storm is one for the books, Mayor Bruno Marchand said at a news conference Saturday. 

The city recorded winds of up to 120 km/h and reached record-breaking water levels, he said. About 65,000 clients in the region are currently without electricity.

"In the last few years, Christmas has been particular for many of us, if not all of us," said Marchand. "This storm that hit Quebec City really isn't trivial. It'll stay in our archives."

Isabelle Dubois, municipal coordinator of civil security, asked citizens to wait until waste collection day before placing fallen branches and trunks on the side of the road. 

"If people leave branches on the side of the road today… it will complicate snow-removal operations and might damage the machinery," she said. 

On Friday, the city registered 3,100 calls to 911 — about three times its monthly average — and 1,167 calls to 311, a record number for a single day, said Christian Paradis, Quebec City fire chief. 

After a fire sparked by a candle in Sainte-Foy Saturday morning left an 81-year-old man dead and a 68-year-old woman in critical condition, Paradis reminded the public to avoid leaving candles unattended and to not film themselves facing the elements. 

"You're exposing yourselves, but you're also exposing the workers who will try to help you," he said. 

Stuck in transit

The Société des Traversiers du Québec (STQ) is redirecting ferry service to and from Godbout Quay to Baie Comeau until further notice after the quay sustained damages. 

"In Godbout, the facilities were hard hit," the company said in a news release. "The STQ will have to carry out a complete inspection of all the infrastructures in place and plan the necessary repairs in addition to a major cleaning.

At Montreal's Trudeau airport, several flights were disrupted Saturday, with around 90 delayed departures and arrivals and more than 30 cancelled flights, according to the airport's website.

Quebec City's Jean-Lesage airport said on its website that more than 20 departures and arrivals were delayed and that about 20 flights had been cancelled.

Via Rail cancelled all trains scheduled for Dec. 24 and 25 between Montreal and Toronto as well as those between Toronto and Ottawa due to a CN train derailment that occurred earlier Saturday. 

"The two only trains that were already on route, are now heading back to their original starting point," said a Via Rail spokesperson in an email.

The Crown corporation said nine of its trains were immobilized on the tracks between Quebec City and Windsor Saturday morning. Another seven were cancelled outright because of the weather conditions. 

Some rail travellers spent the night aboard the trains. 

"From power outages to trees on the tracks and even a tree falling on a locomotive, conditions make it impossible to move some of our trains," a Via Rail spokesperson said. 

"Our first priority is the safety of our passengers and, although stopped, our trains are able to keep passengers warm and safe while on board. We apologize for the inconvenience and are in communication with the infrastructure owner and they are aware of our immobilized trains."

Via Rail issued an apology and said it was concentrating on keeping passengers as "comfortable as possible in the current circumstances." 

"We are continuing to work with our teams and the infrastructure owner to either get those trains moving as quickly as possible or bring them to their final destination with new equipment," the Via Rail spokesperson said. "Passengers who are travelling on these trains will be provided a full refund."

The storm everyone's talking about hits Quebec

2 years ago

Duration 0:41

The winter storm everyone's talking about hit Quebec City hard this morning – snow, high winds and power outages are all in the mix.

Via Rail said customers who were expecting to travel on Saturday should expect significant delays and should check the status of their train on the Via Rail website.