Spring storm knocks out power to tens of thousands across Quebec, Ontario
MONTREAL — A spring storm that hit Quebec and Ontario Thursday knocked out power to tens of thousands of customers, closed schools and blanketed Montreal with heavy, wet snow.
As of 11 p.m., a little more than 60,000 homes and businesses in Quebec were without electricity. The province’s power utility said the affected area ranged from Gatineau in the west to Montreal’s suburbs, with strong gusts and broken tree branches bringing down power lines.
“Outages are caused by vegetation that is weakened by heavy snow and gusty winds,” Hydro-Québec said on social media, adding that about 1,200 workers were in the field to repair infrastructure.
The Laurentians region north of Montreal had the most outages, with more than 23,000 customers in the dark.