Some Quebecers will likely wait weeks before severely damaged power lines are fixed
After this weekend's fierce storm, some Quebecers are being told to hunker down and get ready to live on generators, or without power, for several weeks.
In the town of Ste-Adele in the Laurentians, for example, the seriousness of the damage is easy to see.
"We had hurricane winds come through this area," said Darryl Craig, one resident showing the destruction near his home, with several trees knocked down.
"It uprooted some trees and basically our power lines are all down," he said. "You can see the wire and everything."
The mangled wires supply electricity to his entire block, and it could be weeks before it's all repaired.
"Apparently Hydro now is prioritizing all the roads in the front of the houses, and we're going to be another 10 to 14 days without power, or [before] someone coming to get the lines fixed and the trees cut down," he said.
He's using a generator, like most of his neighbours. But now gas is getting hard to find locally.
"We came yesterday morning so I [could] have two tanks of gas, but when we came yesterday in the evening there was no more gas," one local reported.
People weren't prepared for an emergency on this scale, most agree.
And for some, it's even worse -- for example, having four trees collapse not onto your power lines but onto your house, which is the situation facing Michel Tetrault, also of Ste-Adele.
"It came like a white cloud," he recalled. He could see "nothing for about 30 seconds."
Then he tried to open his door I tried to open the door," discovered immediately that was a bad idea, "and after... 30 seconds everything was down," he said.
The repairs to his home will cost about $100,000, he says.
Hydro-Quebec crews are working overtime across the Laurentians and Lanaudiere, the two hardest-hit regions in the province.
But the utility company says that while many of the repairs can be done quickly, some simply can't.
In Blainville, 80 per cent of outages can be fixed within a day, says Hydro-Quebec spokesperson Caroline Des Rosiers.
The rest will have to wait, she said. As of Monday afternoon, there were 1,400 separate outages responsible for the nearly 200,000 people who were then without power (as of Monday evening, the number had sunk below 175,000).
What is working well is neighbourly support, said Bob Luck, as people help each other clean up.
"That's what we appreciate," he said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Spectacular aurora light show to be seen across Canada Friday night
A rare and severe solar storm is expected to bring spectacular displays of the northern lights, also known as aurora borealis, across much of Canada and parts of the United States on Friday night.
Town of Fort Nelson, B.C., ordered to evacuate due to wildfire
The entire town of Fort Nelson, B.C., as well as the nearby Fort Nelson First Nation, has been ordered to evacuate due to an out-of-control wildfire.
Bouchard lifts Edmonton Oilers to 4-3 overtime win over Canucks in Game 2
Evan Bouchard scored 5:38 into overtime and the Edmonton Oilers bounced back for a 4-3 win over the Vancouver Canucks in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs on Friday.
McGill University seeks emergency injunction to dismantle pro-Palestinian encampment
McGill University has filed a request for an injunction to have the pro-Palestinian encampment removed from its campus.
Which Canadian cities have the highest and lowest grocery prices?
Where you live plays a big factor in what you pay at the grocery store. And while it's no secret the same item may have a different price depending on the store, city or province, we wanted to see just how big the differences are, and why.
Swarm of 20,000 bees gather around woman’s car west of Toronto
A swarm of roughly 20,000 bees gathered around a woman’s car in the parking lot of Burlington Centre.
Video shows naked raccoon catching B.C. family by surprise
When Marvin Henschel spotted a strange and hairless creature wandering through a front lawn in B.C.'s Lower Mainland, he could barely believe his eyes.
Barron Trump declines to serve as an RNC delegate
Former U.S. President Donald Trump's youngest son, Barron Trump, has declined to serve as a delegate at this summer’s Republican National Convention, according to a senior Trump campaign adviser and a statement from Melania Trump's office.
Out-of-control wildfire prompts evacuation alert for Fort McMurray, Saprae Creek Estates Friday night
An evacuation alert was issued for two Wood Buffalo communities Friday night, as crews battled an out-of-control wildfire near Fort McMurray.