Chateauguay, Que. declares state of emergency

Day four in the dark for thousands of Quebecers Tens of thousands of people across the province are still without power four full days after a deadly ice storm.

In the aftermath of the ice storm that hit the province, the city of Chateauguay, in the Montérégie region south of Montreal, has declared a state of emergency.

Thousands of residents are without power, and hundreds of homes are flooded or in danger of being flooded.

According to the latest estimates from Hydro-Quebec, as of 2 p.m., there were still 64 power outages in the municipality. Just over 12,000 customers are still affected by these outages. At the end of the morning, 16,381 of the 23,000 homes served by the Crown corporation were in the dark.

In a news briefing in the early afternoon, Régis Tellier, vice-president of operations and maintenance at Hydro-Québec, indicated that the reconnection work was considered a priority in the sector given the risks of backflow that threaten many citizens.

"We are able to prioritize Chateauguay to be able to quickly reconnect the pumping stations and to help the victims in the current situation," he said alongside Premier François Legault.

In a telephone interview, Philippe Cyr, of Hydro-Québec's community relations department in the Eastern Townships and Montérégie regions, said the area where a number of outages are concentrated, along the Châteauguay River, has been targeted as a priority intervention zone. The spokesperson said that in the last hour, the area of Youville Boulevard, which is in the risk zone, has been reconnected to the network.

The municipality opened the Georges P.-Vanier Cultural Centre to the public to allow residents to warm up and recharge their electronic devices.

All other municipal buildings, with the exception of the police station, remained closed Thursday due to the situation. They were closed as a precautionary measure on Wednesday afternoon.

CLEANING AND WATER FILTRATION

The municipality's emergency services and public works department are deployed on the ground to try to clean up the many trees and branches that have fallen under the weight of the ice, as well as electrical wires that have collapsed onto the public road.

The municipal fire department has received more than 250 calls in this regard. These interventions are expected to extend over the next 72 hours, it was indicated.

"Environmental health teams are working around the clock in our pumping stations to ensure that our water system can respond in the most efficient manner during this period of overload," it was also reported, as the water level in the Chateauguay River continues to be closely monitored.

Several media outlets have reported that more than 200 homes have been flooded due to the inability of the sewage system to channel the large amount of water flowing in, and that nearly 10,000 other homes are at risk from the rising river waters.

However, the water damage is more due to runoff and sewer backup because of the power outage, which prevented pumps from working, said Jean-Sébastien Forest, director of the regional civil security office for the Montérégie.

"Yes, the Chateauguay River is at a higher level than normal because of the spring flooding, but the reports of flooding we're talking about are about backups, runoff or pump stoppages," he said in an interview.

In a news briefing on Thursday morning, Minister of Public Security François Bonnardel also said that "the situation is not worrying, but is still under surveillance."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on April 6, 2023.