Thousands of Quebecers still in the dark as utility restores power after storm

Thousands without power in Quebec Thousands of Quebecers lost power during the massive rainstorm on Aug. 9, 2024.

The lights are back on across much of Quebec, but just under 18,000 residents are still without power two days after the remnants of tropical storm Debby dumped record-breaking amounts of rain on the province.

An outage map from Hydro-Quebec shows roughly 12,000 customers in the Eastern Townships, just under 3,000 in Montreal and nearly 700 in the Mauricie region are still without power as of 10:45 a.m. Sunday morning, but those numbers are down from some 55,000, 75,000 and 6,500 respectively on Friday.

The historic deluge knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of Quebecers, with more than 550,000 customers left in the dark on Friday evening.

Hydro-Quebec says the "vast majority" of those still without power can expect to have it restored by Sunday evening, but some may have to wait until Monday because of "accessibility issues."

Environment Canada says Friday's downpour shattered several single-day records for rainfall in the province, with the municipality of Lanoraie in the Lanaudiere region of the province receiving 221 mm and the western tip of Montreal getting up to 173 mm.

The provincial power utility says it has deployed nearly 300 teams to restore power and is warning the public not to approach downed wires .

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug.11, 2024.