An elderly couple in St.-Blaise-Sur-Richelieu, Que. are counting their blessings after losing their home's roof but suffering no personal injuries in Tuesday's short, severe storm.
Al and Carmel Vienneau were enjoying an afternoon nap when the violent thunderstorms that hit southern Quebec passed over their little town south of Montreal.
"It became very dark. My husband said there's going to be a storm," Carmel told CTV Montreal on Wednesday. "Then 'crack,' and the bed trembled."
The roof of their recently renovated home lay on the ground. It was a crumpled mess.
"I was not afraid. I was at peace. I asked Jesus to protect me and my husband, and I was at peace," Carmel said.
Al Vienneau said they had been planning a vacation trip to New Brunswick, something that would now be put on hold. They had good family and good neighbours who would help them recover, he added.
The entire town shows signs of damage. About 90 per cent of the town lost its power, and there are reports of a destroyed barn and silo.
"It wasn't a tornado, but it looks like something bad hit here," CTV's Rob Lurie told Newsnet, adding the town should have its power back by this evening.
As of Wednesday morning, nearly 200,000 Quebec homes and businesses remained without power after the severe thunderstorms.
The outages, mostly on the south shore of Montreal, forced the closure of about two dozen schools at two school boards.
The storms rolled across southern Quebec on Tuesday afternoon, packing torrential rains and winds well over 100 kilometres per hour.
Trees and power lines came down and seven tractor trailers tipped over on the Champlain bridge, one of Canada's busiest spans linking Montreal and bedroom communities on the south shore.
The overturned trucks closed the span for hours and created huge traffic jams all over the Montreal area.
While the drivers in the toppled rigs were shaken, none was seriously injured. One person on the bridge suffered minor injuries.
Outages
At the height of the storm, nearly 250,000 Hydro Quebec clients were without power in the Montreal region as 110 km/h winds damaged homes, toppled lampposts and ripped apart wooden structures.
Lightning, high winds and sheets of rain disrupted some flights at Trudeau airport on Tuesday, including a jet that aborted a landing.
Airport officials set up temporary lights on the runways to help guide planes in.
A severe thunderstorm warning was issued for Montreal and Laval. Environment Canada warned there was a possibility of tornadoes and hail up to 20 cm in diameter.
The warning was lifted by Tuesday afternoon.
Tennis ball-sized hail fell in some parts of the greater Montreal area.
There were several other incidents:
- A lightpost fell onto a south shore highway and a car collided with it, trapping the driver
- A window-washing platform tumbled from a downtown building on McGill College
Avenue, but no one was on it at the time - A massive tree crushed at least one car in the city's west end, but no one was injured
With files from CTV Montreal's Brian Daly
