About 75 farmers suffered damage to their crops during a vicious microburst Wednesday in the Monteregie, causing an estimated $50 million in damages.
Later Thursday, Minister of Agriculture Pierre Corbeil visited farms where carrots, onions, lettuce and other crops were wiped out.
"We have to evaluate all those damages separately,” said Corbeil, who appeared shocked by the damage.
The supply of vegetables in Quebec will not necessarily suffer, as farmers might opt to simply sell their goods in Quebec rather than export to the States.
"In normal situations we have to export approximately 50% of our crops to the States," said Andre Plane GM of the Quebec Produce Growers’ Association.
The crops are not the only victims of the storm, as lightning also killed a rock climber.
Two men in their twenties were hiking in Saint Raymond, about 40 km west of Quebec City, when they were struck by lightning.
The force of the blow knocked one man into a ravine, where he died of his injuries.
His partner was able to contact friends and ask for help, and Thursday morning Surete du Quebec officers flew to the area in a helicopter to retrieve the man's body.
The storm knocked out power throughout Quebec, with several thousand people having their wires cut south of Montreal and north of Quebec City.
The heavy rain in southern Quebec flooded several low-lying parts of Montreal, and strong winds ripped out large trees by their roots in Chateauguay and Saint-Remi.
Huge trees along Notre-Dame in Saint Remi were ripped out by their roots. The mayor says the storm was sudden, and so intense three roads were closed until debris could be removed.
Several homes were damaged by falling trees, and the hail may have damaged crops.
Farmer Gilbert Pigeon saw his 80 acres of bean fields bombed by hail stones.
“We're one of the biggest bean farms in Quebec and last night, we got hit by hail and lost something like 50 percent of our crops,” said Pigeon.
He just received the bad news that his insurance won’t compensate the losses because the beans were planted prior to May 15.
“They just told us a week before we started planting. We had no choice, we need to plant some beans. This is our labour, so I don't know what I'm going to do,” he said.
So rather than harvesting, as he had planned, he’ll spend the weekend replanting.
Staff members from Environment Canada were in Saint Remi Thursday morning to determine if the storm that hit could be considered a microburst.
A microburst is a sudden downdraft of air, accompanied by winds of up to 270 km/h that rush away in a straight line.
See scenes from the storm in Pierrefonds taken by MyNews contributor Vincent Difabrizio below.
Do you have videos or photos of the storm? Upload them here.
