More than 100,000 Hydro-Québec customers are without electricity as large, wet snowflakes continue to fall across Quebec Sunday morning.
Almost 120,000 clients were still in the dark as of 11:45 a.m.
Most of the outages are in the Mauricie and Quebec City regions, followed by the Laurentians.
Hydro-Québec spokesperson Gabrielle LeBlanc says the heavy snow is weighing down tree branches, which are then hitting power lines.
Leblanc says more than 100 teams are working on the ground in the most affected regions to restore power as quickly as possible, but it’s still too early to say when customers will get their lights back.
“The damages are still being assessed on the ground so it’s hard for me to say how long it will take,” Leblanc said, adding she’ll have a more precise estimate later in the day.
Snowfall warnings are in effect for many areas across the province, stretching from the west to the east, where accumulations of nearly 15 centimetres can be expected. However, amounts could reach 20 to 30 centimetres in some regions.
Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) warns the snow, which could be mixed with rain at times, could add “considerable weight to structures and trees, making them more prone to breaking.”
The agency is urging people to consider changing any non-essential travel plans.
By 8:30 a.m., the downtown Montreal area had already received seven centimetres of snow, according to a preliminary summary released by ECCC.
Quebec City had received 10 centimetres by that time, while Trois-Rivières, Shawinigan and Rouyn-Noranda had received 18, 15 and 13, respectively.
Source Agencies
