Hydro-Quebec's power outages get tougher

Via Rail passengers stranded for hours Hundreds of passengers were left stranded for hours on a Via Rail train due to extreme weather conditions.

The winter storm that hit Quebec on Friday afternoon left hundreds of thousands of Quebecers without power, and many struggling to get around due to disruptions in transportation infrastructure.

At Montreal-Trudeau International Airport (YUL), many trips were disrupted on Saturday, with about 90 departures and arrivals delayed and more than 30 flights cancelled, according to the Aéroports de Montréal website.

In Quebec City, Jean Lesage Airport (YQB) indicated on its website that more than 20 departures and arrivals were delayed, and that about 20 flights were simply cancelled.

On the road, uncertain conditions forced the cancellation of several bus routes, including the intercity carrier Orléans Express. The company announced on its website that five trips between Montreal and Gatineau were cancelled on Saturday between 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.

VIA Rail Canada trains were also disrupted by the weather, and the rail company announced on its website that "significant delays" were expected in the Quebec City-Windsor corridor.

Some 20 trains were cancelled on Saturday morning.

The Société des traversiers du Québec (STQ) reported in a press release issued Saturday afternoon that its facilities on the Matane-Baie-Comeau-Godbout ferry had been damaged by the storm.

Service to Godbout has been suspended until further notice, and all scheduled crossings to and from the municipality will be redirected to Baie-Comeau.

The STQ will also have to test its equipment in Baie-Comeau to verify the impacts of the storm, but the lack of electricity is currently preventing these verifications.

In Matane, the company noted no damage to infrastructure, but said that navigation conditions remained difficult.

The STQ has assured that it will inform customers of any changes through its alert system.

OUTAGES EVERYWHERE

At a press briefing in Montreal on Saturday morning, Hydro-Quebec President and CEO Sophie Brochu said 1,200 workers and contractors were currently on the ground trying to restore power in the affected areas.

"We're kind of in a game of snakes and ladders. As we connect customers who had lost power, there are others who have outages," she explained.

Brochu said that between yesterday's press briefing and today's, 200,000 people had their power back on, but another 200,000 had lost it elsewhere.

She called on the province to be very patient and resilient, adding that the company was doing everything in its power to work "as quickly as possible."

Executive vice-president Eric Filion said the company's ambition was to restore power as a priority to customers who lost power before 4 p.m. on Friday.

"We want to restore the majority of customers who have been out of order since the beginning of the event by Sunday evening," he said at the conference.

QUEBEC CITY SHAKEN

On Saturday afternoon, at around 2:45 p.m., Hydro-Québec reported that 234,038 homes, businesses and other customers were still without power since the previous day.

No region of Quebec was spared by these power outages.

The hardest hit region remained the Capitale-Nationale with 52,365 Hydro-Québec customers still without power.

Quebec City Mayor Bruno Marchand gave a preliminary assessment of the situation at a press briefing at noon on Saturday, stressing that Quebec City had experienced a stormy day that would remain in the archives.

"It was the day when we received the most calls to 911 and the most calls to 311. We had winds of 120 km/h, winds that are obviously destructive," he listed.

According to fire department director Christian Paradis more than 1,100 calls were made to 311 during the day on Friday.

"In one day, we had the ratio of calls that we usually have in a month," he said. "The 911 service received three times as many calls: they had to deal with 3,100 yesterday, as opposed to an average of 1,000."

Quebec City also experienced the highest tides on record, which caused flooding on Dalhousie Street and in the Champlain district.

The number of power outages reached 100,000 homes, which left some residents "very insecure," Marchand said.

However, he added that the crisis teams deployed on the ground had done a tremendous job to serve citizens.

Some community centres even stayed open to accommodate families who had no electricity, allowing them to keep warm.

"There is still a lot of work to be done to return to normality. The snow-clearing operation will continue much later than usual to allow people to celebrate tonight and receive their families," he added.

The other regions most affected are Saguenay--Lac-Saint-Jean (31,682 customers), Montérégie (25,665 customers), Laurentides (22,745 customers) and Côte-Nord (22,106 customers).

In addition, Mauricie (19,222 customers) and Bas-Saint-Laurent (17,130 customers) were affected by the storm during the night.

ROADS CLOSED

Highways 113 and 117 linking Abitibi to Saguenay--Lac-Saint-Jean have been reopened after being closed Friday afternoon, but visibility remains reduced. The same is true for highways 175 and 169 in the Laurentian Wildlife Reserve, which are now passable.

On Saturday afternoon, Highway 381 in the Laurentians was still closed between Ferland-et-Boilleau and Saint-Urbain for an undetermined period.

Transport Quebec points out that users travelling between Quebec City and Saguenay in electric vehicles will not have access to charging stations for an indefinite period of time in the Laurentian wildlife reserve at l'Étape.

He advises downloading the Quebec 511 application to stay on top of current events on the road network.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Dec. 24, 2022.