A man died while cutting tree branches in the aftermath of Wednesday’s ice storm, said Quebec Premier François Legault at a press conference Thursday afternoon.
His message to Quebecers is “be careful, be patient,” he said. People get anxious as the days wear on and want to get out to do things, but workers are out cleaning up branches and other debris. And Hydro Quebec has 1,100 employees working to get the power going again for the 1.1 million who lost it, most of whom are in Montreal.
The man who died was cutting branches near his home in Les Coteaux, southwest of Montreal. “I think we can’t have a better example for Quebecers to be careful, to be careful with trees and to be careful, of course, with electrical wires,” Legault said.
For the remaining 20 percent or so, they may be more difficult cases to resolve and he said crews might still be out there Sunday or Monday.
While the recent storm reminds many of the 1998 storm in which 35 people died and power outages lasted for weeks, it’s different because the weather is now mild, Legault said. The 1998 storm lasted a few days and happened in January. The storm is now over and it’s April, he said, so the weather is warmer.
The outages are concentrated, Bonnardel said. About a quarter of the breakdowns serve 1,000 or more homes each. So for each one workers fix, many homes get their power back.
The priority has been to restore power at hospitals and long-term care homes, Bonnardel said.
He continued, “Obviously, the power being down for so many folks, the trees coming down hurting buildings and cars and whatnot is of course an ongoing concern.” He said the federal government would help if needed.
When a reporter asked Legault if he would take Trudeau up on that offer, Legault said he will be looking to federal funding to strengthen the resilience of Quebec’s power grid.
