Hydro-Quebec said it hoped to reconnect 50,000 customers as of Wednesday. But some subscribers may not be reconnected before Friday, perhaps even beyond, said Ms. Brochu and Régis Tellier, vice-president of operations at Hydro-Québec.
« Since the ice, it’s not bad what happened to us more important and tougher. »
The more time goes by, the more complicated it is and the longer it takes
described the CEO of Hydro-Quebec.
The president of Hydro-Québec, Sophie Brochu, traveled to the most affected region, the Laurentians, to take stock of the status of the reconnection work. Here is Marie-Michelle Lauzon’s report.
The most affected region remains the Laurentians, where more than 41,000 subscribers are still without electricity. In Lanaudière, more than 11,000 subscribers are without power, while in Outaouais, this is the case for nearly 13,000 customers.
More than 700 Hydro-Québec teams are at work on more than 1,500 sites. They are supported by municipal networks, by private contractors and by assistance from New Brunswick.
Ten people lost their lives in Saturday’s thunderstorms, nine in Ontario and one in Quebec.
At the worst of the storm, more than 554,000 Hydro-Quebec customers were without power due to thunderstorms and high winds that rocked Quebec and Ontario late Saturday afternoon.
« In three hours, four hours we lost half a million customers; crazy business. »
Why is it so long?
The fact that the strike zone is very large
complicates the deal, as Sophie Brochu reminded us. At the end of the day on Saturday, a line of violent thunderstorms targeted a strip of territory 300 kilometers long by 100 kilometers wide.
First, the teams assess the situation and transmit the information to the Hydro-Québec control center in Saint-Jérôme. The control center then authorizes interventions in the field, an essential step for the teams to work in a safe and coherent manner.
Of rare intensity, the storms got the better of sometimes gigantic trees, which fell on the electric wires. Consequently, many poles have to be replaced at the rate of 100 per day.
From vegetation control, there is a lot to do
, said Sophie Brochu. In fact,% of our breakdowns are cases of vegetation”,”text”:”90% of our breakdowns are cases of vegetation”}}”>90% of our breakdowns are cases of vegetationadded Régis Tellier.
For example, in the municipality of Val-David alone, about fifty large trees fell on one end of the street, as reported by Mayor Dominique Forget on ICI RDI on Tuesday. This is unheard of!
she wondered.
During their first interventions, after the storm, the Hydro-Québec teams were able to reconnect up to 4,000 customers at once. But, the more we advance, the more the operations require time, to explain Sophie Brochu, and we connect two, three, four customers at a time
.
Warnings
In a press release on Wednesday, Hydro-Québec sent these safety tips to the public:
- do not go near electrical wires that have fallen to the ground: call 911 instead to secure the premises;
- exercise the greatest caution on the road, around the work areas of the teams;
- inside residences, do not use auxiliary fuel-powered lighting or heating appliances, generators or portable stoves designed for the outdoors (barbecue), due to the significant risk of asphyxiation and ‘poisoning;
- watch out for food poisoning. Most home insurance policies provide special coverage for loss of food stored in the freezer.