More than 700 Hydro-Quebec customers still without power

More than 700 Hydro-Quebec customers still without power

Strong winds hammered the Pontiac region along with the rest of western Quebec on Saturday night, felling trees and knocking out power lines, particularly in the region of Bristol, Clarendon, Otter Lake, Thorne and Alleyn-et-Cawood. More than 3,000 customers were still without power on Monday at 6:45 a.m., but that number dropped to 1,163 around 8:15 a.m.

Above, Bristol resident Ken Bernard snapped a pic of this broken hydro pole on the corner of 2nd Line and Wharf Road.

Vegetation falling on lines is suspected to be the main cause of the blackouts. Hydro-Quebec community relations agent Alain Paquette spoke with CHIP 101.9 and gave an overview of the situation across the province over the weekend.

He said that at around 1:30 on December 13 there were still 736 customers in the Pontiac region without power, with around 600 of those in Bristol. He added that 1,000 workers were on the ground in the Outaouais and Laurentides region alone, and he expected power to be restored to the majority of customers by the end of the day.

At the height of the blackout, nearly 400,000 Hydro-Quebec customers were without power.

The full interview with Paquette is available here.