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| Laval firefighters responded to call after call for downed trees, power lines and destroyed tempos Saturday evening. The same was true across the island of Montreal. (Association des Pompiers de Laval Photo) |
A powerful wind storm swept across southern Quebec Saturday evening, associated with strong low pressure lifting across the Great Lakes. Strong winds arrived shortly after 7pm in metro Montreal, sustained at 70km/h gusting to well over 100km/h for several hours. A peak gust to 105km/h (65mph) was observed at Trudeau Airport at 8:45pm Saturday. The wind wreaked havoc across southern Quebec, damaging trees and power lines and destroying many temporary winter garages (tempos) in the process. There are reports of roof damage as well.
Firefighters and first responders across southern Quebec were kept busy, with hundreds of calls for service. Hydro-Quebec reported nearly 400,000 customers without power at the height of the storm. That number has since fallen to 331,000 as of 9am Sunday morning. The utility has over 400 men and women on the ground and will work around the clock to restore service.
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| Another destroyed tempo sits outside a school in Chomedey-Laval Sunday morning. (Photo: T. Giotsalitis) |
Winds have also eased somewhat Sunday, but the day will be blustery, with west winds up to 60km/h persisting during the daylight hours.
The same system also cut power to hundreds of thousands of homes from Michigan across Ontario and into New England. A peak wind gust in Ontario of 130km/h (8o mph) was recorded at Point Petre on the northeast shore of Lake Ontario.
The storm was the same one that produced the devastating and historic tornado outbreak across the mid-south US. Dozens of tornadoes took over one hundred lives and levelled numerous communities.
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