Ice is seen on a sidewalk following freezing rain in Montreal on Thursday.Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press
Quebec’s hydro utility was working to re-establish power for tens of thousands of customers on Thursday after an ice storm descended over the province’s south, knocking down branches and turning streets and sidewalks into skating rinks.
At its peak, more than 200,000 clients were without power in Quebec after Wednesday’s storm. By 12:30 p.m. the following day, that number was down to about 130,000, with the worst-hit area being the Montérégie region south of Montreal, with about 51,000 clients without electricity.
Premier François Legault told reporters in Montreal that roughly 2,000 workers with Hydro-Québec were repairing distribution lines across the province, adding that the majority of outages should be resolved by 11 p.m.
“I understand that some people have been without power for several hours. It’s difficult, but at the same time, I can assure you that Hydro-Québec is doing everything possible to resolve this as quickly as possible.”
Earlier in the day, Louis-Olivier Batty, a spokesperson for Hydro-Québec, said the storm did not cause serious widespread damage to equipment. “So that’s the good news: there’s a lot of damage, but it’s fairly easy to repair.”
For the most part, the storm was not as bad as forecast. A spokesperson for the Urgences-Santé ambulance service said they had received fewer 911 calls than anticipated. Geneviève Poirier, operations chief, said there were no spikes in calls compared to an average day, which she said suggested people followed calls by officials to stay off the roads.
“The directives bore fruit because people stayed home,” she said.
Meteorologists had warned the system could resemble the major ice storm that hit parts of southern Quebec and eastern Ontario in April 2023, when some areas – including Montreal – received about 30 millimetres of freezing rain, disrupting travel and knocking out power for more than a million people in the two provinces.
Environment Canada lifted all its freezing rain warnings for southwestern Quebec on Thursday. In a preliminary summary from 11 a.m., the federal weather agency said Quebec’s Outaouais region received between 20 to 30 mm of freezing rain, Montreal had 20 mm, the Laurentians received between 15 and 20 mm and Quebec City saw 10 to 15 mm.
A school bus is seen on an icy road in Montreal.Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press
Patrick Murphy, a Plateau Mont-Royal resident, said he was worried he would lose electricity on Wednesday “with a baby in the household, but we didn’t lose power,” Murphy said. “We got lucky but it’s good to be prudent.”
Justine Kronovsek was waiting for her husband outside the Plateau’s Laurier metro station after learning her child’s daycare was closed because of flooding and power outages. But she said she was happy her home didn’t lose power.
“We were expecting [an outage] but it was pretty smooth,” Kronovsek said. “I think everyone is so traumatized from what happened three years ago so it’s better to prepare for the worst: three years ago it was a mess.”
Numerous flights were cancelled in Montreal and Quebec City on Wednesday, but airport operations returned largely to normal Thursday.
Classes were cancelled across southern Quebec on Wednesday, and while some schools reopened Thursday, many stayed closed for a second day.
The icy conditions also halted transit services on Thursday morning on some stations of the Montreal area’s REM light-rail network, on the link between Brossard and Central Station. That same segment was closed late Wednesday afternoon after freezing rain hit.
“An episode of intense freezing rain, localized on the South Shore and the Champlain Bridge, led to an exceptional accumulation of ice on the overhead power lines, causing a complete shutdown of service between Brossard and Central Station,” the REM’s operator, Pulsar, said in a statement.
Preventive measures were ineffective and crews began manually de-icing the overheard power lines along 15 kilometres of track. That operation began Wednesday and took several hours. Service resumed gradually just before 9 a.m. Thursday.
High energy weather brings violent winds, knocking out power in B.C.
An unusual low-pressure system moving in from the Pacific brought extreme winds and snow to higher elevations in southern B.C., an Environment Canada meteorologist said on Thursday.
Terri Lang said the system brought strong winds, lightning strikes and heavy snow in B.C.’s highway passes, including the Coquihalla Highway.
“We don’t see them very often, but it had a lot of energy associated with it,” she said of the system that moved through late Wednesday and early Thursday.
The Coquihalla Highway was shut down in both directions north of Hope because of a vehicle incident, but DriveBC, the provincial road information system, said the route had reopened by Thursday afternoon.
BC Hydro said roughly 17,000 customers had lost power since Wednesday night across the Lower Mainland, while lights remained out for thousands on the Sunshine Coast, the Fraser Valley, Okanagan and Kootenay regions as of Thursday afternoon.
The utility said crews worked through the night to address the widespread outages, and work will continue Thursday repairing downed lines.
Hope Fire Chief Thomas Cameron said the service responded to about 14 calls for downed wires and trees.
Fire crews did not respond to any vehicle accidents and were continuing with cleanup on Thursday, Cameron said.
Transportation Minister Mike Farnworth said maintenance crews were well-prepared with snow plows and other equipment as they clean up from the windy and snowy aftermath.
He said drivers should check DriveBC for conditions before they head out on the roads.
“It’s not spring. Especially on the Coquihalla,” Farnworth told reporters in Victoria Thursday. “Don’t drive like an idiot.”
Environment Canada said peak wind gusts of 139 km/h were reported in Hope, while Abbotsford recorded gusts at speeds up to 85 km/h.
High winds were also reported across southern Vancouver Island, where Victoria’s Gonzales Point recorded a peak gust of 106 km/h.
Lang said the Coquihalla Summit saw wind gusts of 87 km/h.
BC Ferries cancelled several sailings between Tsawwassen and Swartz Bay and reduced service to two vessels on Wednesday due to high winds in the Strait of Georgia, spokesperson Akriti Tyagi said in an e-mail.
Tyagi said the ferry service added an extra round trip on Wednesday evening to accommodate customers.
“As conditions can change quickly during severe weather, we encourage customers to check their sailing status before leaving home,” she said.
Lang said that while the low-pressure system has since made its way into Alberta and Saskatchewan, remaining moisture is “enhancing” snowfall at B.C.’s mountain passes.
“I don’t have any numbers for you quite yet because it’s still snowing,” she said.