Montreal was “devastated” by a blizzard that deprived part of Canada of electricity

Half of the city is without electricity, all the schools are closed and the streets are full of trees: the material damage is great Thursday, April 6 in Montreal, especially that hit by the ice storm that fell the day before on eastern Canada.

“Montreal destroyed” But the situation ” On probation “Quebec’s Minister of Economy and Energy, Pierre Fitzgibbon, said during a news conference Thursday, when warnings of freezing rain were lifted.

In total, 1.2 million homes were still without power Thursday morning, including 1.1 million in Quebec, due to fallen trees that gave way under the weight of the snow and damaged power lines.

Traffic lights, bikes, cars, plants… In Montreal, everything has been covered in a thick layer of ice since Wednesday evening, freezing French-speaking Quebec City. Preliminary data shows that 3 to 4 centimeters of ice fell on the city in just a few hours.

Biggest blackout in Quebec in 20 years

Centers have been opened to accommodate residents without electricity, as temperatures approach zero. It may take several days to restore energy to everyone.

“In the last 20 years, it was the worst ice storm we’ve seen.”, tells AFP Jean-Marc Grondin. The 64-year-old retiree, who lives in the downtown Hadaba district, came out to see the electrical transformer that caught fire after a tree fell on Wednesday.

A few feet away, city officials are hard at work: There are a lot of blocked streets, trees across the street, and destroyed cars. It is surprising that there are no deaths.said Samuel, the municipal representative who did not give his last name.

“It will take several weeks to clean up the entire city.”He adds, he saw in his hand, picking up the branches of trees blocking the street.

It is the largest power outage in Quebec since the ice storm of 1998, which plunged the province into chaos for several weeks. “We’ve just had weather events, and we’re going to have more and more of them, and they’re going to be more and more important.”estimated Sophie Brochu, CEO of the electric company Hydro-Québec, referring to climate change.

“We are thinking of the people of Quebec and eastern Ontario who were affected by yesterday’s storm, and we thank the teams that opened roads and restored power.”Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted.