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Still no power for 168,000 Quebecers as Hydro-Quebec repairs storm damage

Nov 3, 2019 | 10:31 AM

MONTREAL — Hydro-Quebec has restored power to 80 per cent of those who lost it during a punishing autumn storm on Friday.

However, about 168,000 customers across the province are still without power for a second day.

The utility’s Cendrix Bouchard says he’s not sure when everyone will be back on the grid.

He says the aim is to have the lights on by the end of today, but advises those without power to leave their homes for now.

Crews have been fixing broken electrical poles and downed power lines from Friday’s heavy rain and powerful winds.

Reinforcements have arrived from Michigan, Ottawa and New Brunswick to help the nearly 1,100 Hydro-Quebec employees on the ground.

The number of those without power has steadily dropped since it peak, when nearly one million clients were plunged into darkness on Friday. But officials warned some could be without power for days.

One person, a 63-year-old man in Bromont, Que., 85 kilometres east of Montreal, was killed by a falling tree outside his condominium on Friday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 3, 2019.

The Canadian Press

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