Over 13,100 Quebec homes left without power following Saturday morning’s strong winds

Nearly 93,500 addresses were without power in Quebec on Saturday morning at around 7:20 a.m. after a night of strong winds.

The Laurentides (11,790) and Capitale-Nationale (11,220) regions were among the most affected, with about 11,000 Hydro-Québec customers without power when they woke up at around 7 a.m. in each of these regions. The situation was worse in the Eastern Townships, where 17,115 homes, businesses and companies were without power.

“As the event is still ongoing, the number of customers without power is constantly changing: new outages occur while others are being resolved,” said a spokesperson for Hydro-Québec.

Environment Canada wind warnings were still in effect at daybreak in Beauce and Estrie, as well as in Coaticook, near the Canada-U.S. border, where gusts from the west of up to 90 kilometres per hour were felt in the morning.

Winds were also very strong in the Lower St. Lawrence region near the river, on the North Shore, in Saguenay and in the Gaspé Peninsula.

Most of the outages were caused by vegetation on the lines, such as tree branches.

As of 11:45 a.m., Eastern Townships were still impacted the most, seeing around 12,555 addresses affected. Other more heavily impacted areas includedChaudière-Appalaches which still had 9,243 addresses affected, Montérégie (9,557), Laurentides (6,663), and Lanaudière (6,676).

As of 2:09 p.m., Eastern Townships were still impacted the most, seeing around 9,823 addresses affected. Other more heavily impacted areas includedChaudière-Appalaches which still had 5,848 addresses affected, Montérégie (4,849), and Laurentides (4,527).

As of 4 p.m., Eastern Townships were still impacted the most, seeing around 7,344 addresses affected. Other more heavily impacted areas includedChaudière-Appalaches which still had 3,938 addresses affected, Montérégie (3,337), Laurentides (2,926), and Lanaudière (2,140).

By 6 p.m., Eastern Townships were still impacted the most, seeing around 6,795 addresses affected. Other more heavily impacted areas includedChaudière-Appalaches which still had 2,226 addresses affected, Montérégie (3,337), Montreal (2,563), and Laurentians (1,624).

As of 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, around 13,192 customers were still without power. Lanaudière was the most impacted area, seeing around 2,801 addresses affected. Laval had 2,098 addresses without power. All other regions in Quebec were under 2,000 addresses without power, including the Eastern Townships which were heavily impacted on Saturday.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews