Power outages, flight delays, flooded roads: storm wreaks havoc in Montreal

Montreal was under heavy rainfall during a severe thunderstorm on Sunday, leading to power outages and flight delays.

Thousands of people were without power, and several flights were delayed at the Montreal-Trudeau airport on Sunday after an intense thunderstorm brought torrential rain to the region.

Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) issued a severe thunderstorm warning for parts of southern Quebec shortly before 3 p.m.

By 4 p.m., heavy downpours and strong wind gusts pounded the Montreal area, at one point knocking out power to nearly 100,000 Hydro-Quebec customers.

By 5 p.m., the number of outages had fallen to about 40,000. The majority of the outages were in Laurentians, Lanaudière, and Montérégie.

According to ECCC, some regions in Montreal the Laurentians, and Lanaudière received between 70 and 80 millimetres of rain in short period.

Videos on social media showed flooded basements and flooded roads in parts of the city after the storm, including Highway 40 near Côte vertu.

In St-Leonard, basements on Belmont Street filled up with water. It’s an area that frequently sees flooding.

Sofia Marunych’s mother lives on the street and has significant damage to a basement that was just renovated in May.

“There’s accumulation on the street. The sewage is backing up and she has about 38 to 40 inches of water in her basement,” Marunych said.

“The sofas are floating, the furniture is floating, all her belongings are floating in the basement. Like the last time she was flooded on August 9 last summer.”

ECCC lifted the severe thunderstorm warning at around 4:40 p.m.

Montreal police said they were overwhelmed with several 911 calls about flooded streets and cars that were stuck. No serious injuries were reported.

Montreal flights delayed, diverted

The Montreal-Trudeau airport also says passengers should check their flight status as the weather conditions are affecting flight schedules, ground operations, and baggage delivery. Multiple delays are affecting departing flights Sunday afternoon.

An airport spokesperson told Noovo Info that 10 flights were diverted to other airports

Extreme humidity

ECCC has also put Montreal under a heat warning until Sunday evening. The forecast is calling for a high of 30 C on Sunday but the alert says humidex values could reach 40.

ECCC says people should watch for signs of heat stroke, drink water often, and close blinds or shades at home.

The low will drop to 22 C on Sunday night.