OTTAWA, April 6 (Reuters) – A blizzard hit two of Canada’s most populous provinces ahead of the Christmas weekend, killing two people and knocking out power to more than a million people. power line.
As of 4:00 PM (2000 GMT), about 1 million people were without power in Quebec and about 110,000 in Ontario, according to Poweroutage.com. Total power outages in both regions reached at least 1.3 million earlier in the day.
These two provinces account for more than half of Canada’s total population of approximately 39 million.
Electricity providers in both provinces are working to restore power, but repairs are expected to take several days, leaving many Canadians in the dark over the Easter weekend.
One person died after a tree fell in Quebec, and Premier Francois Legault warned people to watch out for live wires and weakened trees at a conference. Another person has died after being hit by a falling tree branch in eastern Ontario, CTV News reports.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, elected to Parliament from the Montreal constituency, has offered to provide assistance from the central government if needed.
[1/5] The landscape after a snowstorm in Apple Hill, Ontario, Canada on April 6, 2023 is shown in this photo from social media. Via Natalie Lowe/REUTERS
“This is a very difficult moment. “Many people have lost power, downed trees, damaged buildings and cars, and ongoing concerns,” Trudeau said. On top of the fallen tree behind him.
Montreal was one of the hardest-hit areas in Quebec, accounting for half of all outages in the French-speaking region.
“To see all these beautiful trees fall, to see lives thrown into chaos, to see similar struggles… (it’s going to be) a tough Easter weekend for a lot of families,” Trudeau said.
Hydro-Québec hopes to restore power to 70 percent of its customers by midnight Friday, a utility executive told a televised conference call.
“Unfortunately, it’s the start of a long weekend and some areas are so congested that we won’t be able to reconnect right away,” said Regis Delier, vice-president of operations and maintenance for Hydro-Québec.
City of Ottawa workers are expected to restore power to a significant portion of the roughly 65,000 affected customers by noon, Mayor Mark Sutcliffe said.
Sutcliffe said parts of the capital were “still at risk from falling debris and power outages affecting traffic signals”.
Reporting by: Ismail Shakil; Edited by Mark Heinrich, Susan Fenton, Deepa Babington, and Richard Chang
Our Standard: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.