Severe thunderstorm alert in Quebec | More than 500,000 customers without electricity

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According to Hydro-Québec, 107,612 homes were still without power on Saturday evening in the Outaouais region and 167,624 in the Laurentians. The state-owned company attributes the outages to “severe thunderstorms.” Major outages are also reported in Mauricie, Lanaudière and Montérégie. At the height of the evening, more than 553,605 customers were affected by 1,361 outages across the province.

Due to the magnitude of the event, Hydro-Québec was unable to give the timeframes for the return to service. “The situation can change quickly on the ground and the number of places to intervene is enormous,” she said in a tweet.

Overturned boat

In Gatineau, a 51-year-old woman lost her life after sinking into the Ottawa River, CBC reported. Gatineau police have indeed confirmed that a drowning that occurred around 5 p.m. in these waters was under investigation.

According to Lieutenant Éric Simard, two people were on board a boat when it capsized in the passage of the storm.

For its part, the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) reported no serious injuries in the territories affected by the storm. On the other hand, it received a large number of calls related to the difficult weather conditions, and increased the number of patrollers on the ground in order to provide assistance to the population.

“There were lightning, thunder. It was really a big storm,” says Florence Jannard. On his small street in Chertsey, not far from Rawdon, several trees were uprooted by the gusts. Fortunately, the houses were spared. As soon as the storm passed, the neighborhood got down to cleaning up. “There are a lot of branches in the street,” she said.

Miles away, Mont-Tremblant resident Graham Green described “very, very strong” winds that lasted “about 90 seconds.” Around 100 trees were uprooted in the area of ​​Le Maitre golf club, some blocking the roads, others resting on electrical wires. “At least one car was hit by a falling tree,” he explains.

A thunderstorm from Ontario

The storm system arrived from Ontario, where winds of over 120 km/h were recorded near the border earlier Saturday, and traveled east.

In the neighboring province, the storm killed at least two people and knocked out tens of thousands of homes of power.

Peel Regional Police say a Brampton woman died after being hit by a tree during the storm. Hours later, Ontario Provincial Police said one person was dead and two others injured after a tree fell on a trailer near Pinehurst Lake in Waterloo Region.

At Kitchener airport, gusts of 132 km/h were recorded.

In Quebec, citizens would have seen a tornado in the corner of Gatineau, in Outaouais, but Environment Canada did not confirm anything at the beginning of the evening. “It’s possible, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a tornado,” notes Maxime Perron, Environment Canada meteorologist.

A tornado watch remained in effect for the remainder of the evening in central Ontario.

The rivers are overflowing

Precipitation is expected Sunday in almost the entire province, from Gatineau to Sept-Îles, via Chibougamau and Greater Montreal.

Bad news for residents of Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, where the Ashuapmushuan and Mistassini rivers have reached record levels and the level of Lac Saint-Jean itself is very high. The rain “should maintain these levels until about Monday,” according to Mr. Perron.

In La Tuque, flooding forces the closure of several roads. Residents of Parent are currently isolated, and an emergency airlift has been put in place to ensure the supply of essential goods and urgent medical transport to La Tuque.

Teams from the Ministry of Forests, Wildlife and Parks are also on site to attempt an operation to raise the road surface of a section of forest road 25 between Wemotaci and Parent. “For the moment, we have no idea how long this operation will take and if it will work,” said the City of La Tuque in a press release.

If the mercury reached 30 ° C in Montreal on Saturday, there is no other heat wave in sight in the immediate future and temperatures should approach seasonal norms for the next few days.

The return of good weather will be generalized on Monday for National Patriots’ Day. Clear skies are expected and temperatures between 14°C and 20°C depending on the region.

With Frédérik-Xavier Duhamel, La Presse and The Canadian Press

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