Wild winds, rain cause power outages, school closures across Quebec

Wind storm knocks out power The storm took down tress, power lines, and shuttered multiple schools across Montreal.

More than 70,000 homes in Quebec are without power following the intense wind and rain Wednesday night.

At the height of the storm, a quarter of a million homes were in the dark.

As of 12 p.m., the region that counted the most outages was the Montérégie at 21,194, followed by Montreal at 9,634 and Estrie at 9,618.

Hydro-Quebec is asking for patience as it aims to restore power.

"Our teams are already on the ground. We aim is to restore service as quickly as possible," the Crown corporation states. "The reliability of our service is our priority and in action to reduce outages."

There are no weather alerts issued for the Montreal area Thursday.

However, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada, the weather is -12 degrees Celsius and -23 with the wind chill.

Driving conditions are expected to be slick Thursday morning following the flash freeze, though temperatures are expected to rise by Friday.

Service on the Réseau express métropolitain (REM) has also resumed after numerous trains went offline Wednesday evening due to "the numerous power outages affecting the Hydro-Quebec," according to a spokesperson.

School closures:

Centre de services scolaire des Grandes-Seigneuries:

Archipelago Elementary School (Léry)

English Montreal School Board:

Cedarcrest Elementary School (Saint-Laurent)

Lester B. Pearson School Board:

Beaconsfield High School (Beaconsfield)

Christmas Park Elementary School (Beaconsfield)

Gordon Robertson Beauty Academy (Beaconsfield)

Mount Pleasant Elementary School (Hudson)

Springdale Elementary School (DDO)

Sunshine Academy (DDO)

New Frontiers School Board:

Châteauguay Valley Regional High School (Ormstown)

Franklin Elementary School (Repentigny)

Daycares:

CPE les Bois Verts (DDO)

Other:

Collège Charlemagne (Pierrefonds-Roxboro)

Cummings Centre (Montreal)