A 15-year-old boy is in critical condition after a tree fell on him during the wind storm in Montreal. The fire department (SIM) said that since 7:30 p.m., over 100 calls came in from across the island, mostly about wires and trees falling on cars, houses and across streets. Montreal police (SPVM) spokesperson Jean-Pierre Brabant confirmed that a call came in around 8 p.m. after heavy winds blew a tree over and trapped the boy for a couple of minutes on Grande-Allée Boulevard near Henri-Bourassa Boulevard West in the Ahuntsic-Cartierville borough. Urgences-Sante paramedics and Montreal firefighters pulled him free and rushed him to the hospital, where he remained on Tuesday night. Two fires In addition, Montreal firefighters were called to two fires in residences within half an hour of each other. A fire in a duplex on Wellington Street at 2nd Avenue in Verdun at around 8:10 p.m. resulted in no injuries, and no evacuation was necessary. The SIM said, however, that around four families were forced out of their homes after a fire in a triplex at 8:30 p.m. on Alice-Nolin Street and Robertine Barry Street in Ahuntsic. Wall collapses In addition, strong winds caused a wall at the Air Canada building on Côte-Vertu Boulevard West in Saint Laurent to collapse. Police said no one was injured, but the building was evacuated. Hospital and thousands without power The storm caused major power outages throughout Quebec. The Maisonneuve-Rosemont hospital was hit by the storm, causing damage to the building, and the power was knocked out. “Technical teams were dispatched to carry out emergency work, and the power supply has now been restored,” said a CIUSSS East Montreal spokesperson. “All measures have been taken to ensure the safety of users.” Hydro-Quebec reported that at 10 p.m., there were around 130,000 customers without power due to the storm. The majority of those were in Montreal (over 38,000) and the Montérégie (over 25,000) on the South Shore. The Outaouais (around 22,000), Laurentians (around 16,000) and Laval (around 14,000) were also hard hit by the storm.
