Five days after the passing of strong storms that penetrated Ontario and Quebec on Saturday, tens of thousands of Quebec households are still waiting to be reconnected. Many of them have to endure their problems, if we are to believe the current pace of work groups.
According to the latest update of the Hydro-Québec website, more than 45,000 Quebecers remain without electricity, and approximately 1,400 outages are still ongoing.
The Laurentians remain the most affected regions, ahead of Outaouais and Lanaudière, while the situation seems to return to normal or in almost all other regions of Quebec.
At the height of the events, last Saturday, 554,000 homes were without electricity. More than 90% of them have already found it.
We are doing everything we can to reconnect all the households as soon as possible.Prime Minister François Legault assured Facebook on Thursday morning.
” The storm last Saturday caused extensive damage to several Hydro-Québec structures and power cables, making the work more complicated. I want to thank you for your patience. “
The recovery continues to progressHydro-Québec confirms on its website, indicating that more than 1,950 workers were mobilized.
Some residences that are more isolated or more difficult to access will however have to wait until Friday or Saturday before being reconnected, the state-owned company said in a press briefing on Wednesday.
Nearly half of the continuous loss affects 10 customers or fewerwhich explains the longer delay for some households, he explains.
Hydro-Québec president and chief executive Sophie Brochu is due to take stock again by the end of Thursday. A press briefing is scheduled for 5:30 pm in Lachute, in the Laurentians.
Ms. said. Brochu on Wednesday that the scale of the disaster was the worst since the 1998 ice storm.
The line of violent storms hit a strip of territory 300 kilometers long and 100 kilometers wide on Saturday. Ten people died as a result of the typhoons, nine in Ontario and one in Quebec.
Environment Canada confirmed on Wednesday that the lightning-thunderstorms were caused by a derecho, an unknown weather phenomenon that presents as a large, long-lasting windstorm.
In Quebec, at least 500 poles and 100 transformers will be replaced by the completion of the restoration work. Sophie Brochu said she believes this operation will be costly lost tens of millions to the Crown corporation, promising with the same breath that these amounts will not be passed on to customers.
Network restoration operations are also underway on the other side of the border, in Ontario.
More details are next.
Source: Radio-Canada
