Quebec storm aftermath: Surgeries cancelled at Montreal hospital

Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital is seen in Montreal on Saturday, August 23, 2014. (Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press)

MONTREAL — One of Quebec’s largest hospitals cancelled surgeries on Wednesday after it lost power the night before during one of a series of violent storms that swept through the province.

Officials at Montreal’s Maisonneuve-Rosemont hospital — its rapidly aging infrastructure in serious need of major renovations — were forced to cancel 30 surgeries and transfer one surgery patient to another city hospital for urgent care, said Thaïs Dubé, a spokeswoman for the regional health agency in eastern Montreal.

Later in the day officials said they ensured electricity would be available to operating rooms and gave them the green light to reopen. But they said none of the surgeries scheduled for Wednesday would go forward. By 2 p.m., ambulances destined for Maisonneuve-Rosemont were no longer diverting urgent and trauma patients to other health centres.

“Everything is currently being done to restore the situation and allow the resumption of all our activities in complete safety,” Dubé said.

Damage to the hospital included shattered windows, she said, adding that the storm revealed problems with the transfer system that is supposed to supply parts of the hospital with generator power.

Health Minister Christian Dubé, facing criticism from opposition parties on Wednesday, said he would find a solution “in the coming weeks” so that much-needed upgrade work at Maisonneuve-Rosemont could begin.

Meanwhile, as of Wednesday afternoon, Hydro-Québec was still working to restore power to more than 38,000 clients after wind gusts of more than 100 kilometres per hour knocked out trees and equipment. Most power outages were in the Laurentians north of Montreal, and the Montérégie and Outaouais regions.

Environment Canada had warned on Tuesday of thunderstorms moving eastward across Quebec, and of large hail, heavy rain and strong wind gusts.

In Montreal, a teenager was seriously injured after becoming stuck under a tree that fell in the Ahuntsic-Cartierville borough.

Transport officials closed Highway 19 in Montreal’s northern suburb of Laval in both directions Wednesday morning to repair damage to a piece of infrastructure that had caught fire the night before.

In the lower Laurentians, the towns of Rosemère, Lorraine, and Bois-des-Filion issued a precautionary boil water advisory, as a power outage affected computer equipment at a water treatment plant.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 30, 2025.

Sidhartha Banerjee, The Canadian Press