Severe power outages continue after Quebec storm

Tens of thousands of Quebec homes remain in the dark days after an intense storm swept through the province.

As of Wednesday afternoon, there are 78,926 households without power -- a big difference from the 550,000 outages at the height of the storm Saturday.

The most affected regions are the Laurentians at 45,381 outages, Lanaudière at 15,162 and Outaouais at 14,374.

• Get Hydro-Quebec outage updates

Some 700 teams of workers are on the ground, including contractors who have come to assist Hydro-Quebec crews. 

As many as 500 poles and 100 transformers will have been replaced by the end of the restoration work. So far, some 300 poles have been replaced.

some at Hydro-Quebec are calling it the worst storm since the Ice Strom of 1998.

"One of my managers told me that in 25 years, he has never seen that," said Régis Tellier, vice-president of operations. 

What remains is a complicated task for the Crown corporation, as the storm struck a territory 300 kilometres long by 100 kilometres wide, stretching from Gatineau to Quebec City.

At least 10 people have been confirmed dead as communities work to clean up the destruction left behind.

Hydro-Quebec is warning people who spot electrical wires on the ground not to approach them and to immediately call 911.

Disaster service centres are open in areas most iimpacted by the severe storms.

-- with files from The Canadian Press.