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Hydro-Québec is gradually restoring power to customers after freezing rain and high winds brought down power lines overnight.
At the height of the outages early Thursday, more than 200,000 customers were without electricity, with Montreal, the Laurentians, Centre-du-Québec and the Montérégie among the regions most affected.
At 6:30 p.m., roughly 35,000 customers were still without power.
While the province avoided the worst of the anticipated ice storm, some schools in southern Quebec remained closed for a second day due to poor road conditions and power outages.
The Lester B. Pearson School Board, the New Frontiers School Board and the Centre de services scolaire des Patriotes are closed again Thursday.
The English Montreal School Board, the Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board and the Centre de services scolaire de Montréal all opted to reopen, though a handful of schools in select areas and those without power will remain closed Thursday.
While hundreds of thousands of Quebecers briefly lost power and some transportation was disrupted as freezing rain blanketed much of the province Wednesday and Thursday, the impact was less severe than many feared, leaving some Montrealers treating the storm more as a curiosity than a problem.
Hydro-Québec spokesperson Cendrix Bouchard said all of the public utility’s 550 teams will be deployed in full force today, but stressed that difficult conditions could make it slower to restore service in some areas.
“Just getting to an outage will take longer than usual,” Bouchard said.
“The roads are slippery for everybody, and we always remind the workers to always stay safe.”
Quebec Premier François Legault spoke with journalists after meeting with Hydro-Québec on Thursday.
He said the ”large majority” of the outages should be resolved by 11 p.m., though he added that the potential for winds in certain parts of the province are a concern.
REM service disrupted
Simon Legault, a meteorologist with Environment Canada, told CBC Montreal’s Daybreak that high winds today could lead to further power outages.
He also said temperatures are expected to drop, which could make for problems on the roads where there was a buildup of water.
Service was disrupted on Montreal’s light-rail network, the REM, during the morning commute between the Gare-Centrale and Brossard stations.
Shuttle buses had to be put in place on the South Shore and Nuns’ Island.
A spokesperson said service was gradually being restored as of 9 a.m. after ice had been cleared off the cables.
Before the freezing rain hit Montreal, the REM light-rail network said it was getting ready to run trains continuously to prevent ice buildup on the power lines. In the end, how did the network do?
Snow further east
While Montreal and the surrounding area was hit with freezing rain, other parts of the province saw a mix of snow and ice pellets.
A snowfall warning remained in effect Thursday for Baie-Comeau and Sept-Îles, where up to 40 centimetres of snow was expected to fall by Thursday afternoon.
Transport Québec said road conditions are particularly bad in the Côte-Nord and Gaspé regions. Spokesperson Sarah Bensadoun says parts of Route 132 and Route 138 are closed to trucks today because of safety issues.
Several schools in the Quebec City area also remained closed Thursday morning, though some daycare services were open.
Experts weigh in with safety tips to stay safe and protect your property, food, devices and vehicles during adverse weather events in Quebec.
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