Over 45,000 lose power in Quebec from Isaias

Widespread damage and power outages occurred as a result of tropical storm Isaias along the entire east coast from North Carolina to southern Quebec. A US postal worker was lucky to escape with his life after a massive tree crushed his delivery vehicle on Tuesday in northern New Jersey. (CBS)

Tropical storm Isaias is gone, dissipating well northeast of Quebec City on Wednesday. All that is left behind here in Montreal, are some ragged dark clouds, isolated showers and gusty winds. The storm was disruptive on Tuesday to say the very least. After making landfall near Oak Island, North Carolina Monday night, Isaias raced northeast at lightning speed arriving in southern Quebec just before midnight on Tuesday, having traveled over 1500km in about 24 hours.

Along the way, Isaias dumped torrential rain, spawned dozens of tornadoes and killed at least 6 people in the US. Power outages were numerous across the eastern seaboard, rivalling those from superstorm Sandy back in 2012. Nearly 4 million residents were in the dark at the height of the storm on Tuesday. That number is slowly coming down today. There was major damage to homes and infrastructure in coastal North Carolina at the point of landfall, as well as scattered significant damage from tornadoes in several states including Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and Virginia. On Mount Washington in northern New Hampshire, a wind gust to 236 km/h (147mph) was reported as the storm passed late Tuesday.

Strong winds pulled down trees in the Quebec City region on Tuesday, taking down power lines in the process. At the height of the storm, over 45,000 Hydro-Quebec subscribers were in the dark. (Radio Canada)

In southern Quebec, heavy rain fell most of the day, with 100mm (4 inches) falling in Trois Rivieres, 120mm in the Charlevoix region and 30 to 50mmm here in metro Montreal. There was some minor flooding observed, but thankfully nothing too serious. The strongest winds in Quebec were confined to a narrow swath across the Townships into Quebec City, where Winds gusted up to 90 km/h. Power was out to over 45,000 homes and businesses, mostly around Quebec City and points south to the US border. At 11:15 Wednesday morning, that number was down to 21,000.

In the wake of Isaias, much calmer weather will return to southern Quebec to end the work week, with sunshine and warm temperatures expected into the upcoming weekend.