Thousands of Quebecers are spending another day in the cold and dark, as hydro crews work to restore electricity to those affected by the power outages after a fierce winter storm last week.
As of 8:15 a.m. Monday, power was still out for about 70,000 Hydro-Québec customers.
Sophie Brochu, CEO of Hydro-Québec, will provide an update at a news conference at 11 a.m.
Brochu said during a news conference Sunday that workers were busy trying to restore power to customers who have been without electricity since Friday, but said more recent outages would take longer to resolve.
At the height of the storm, nearly 380,000 Quebec customers lost electricity.
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More than 550,000 clients have lost power at one time or another since Thursday evening, according to Brochu.
Transit delays
A Christmas Eve train derailment is also continuing to wreak havoc on holiday travel plans in Quebec.
After cancelling all Christmas Day trains on its Toronto-Montreal and Toronto-Ottawa routes, Via Rail tweeted Sunday evening that it was cancelling all Boxing Day trains due to ongoing complications.
Early Monday morning, some delays were reported at Monteal’s Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau International Airport and at Jean-Lesage International Airport in Quebec City.
Environment Canada has issued several blowing snow advisories for the majority of regions between Montreal and Quebec, adding that “hazardous road conditions can be expected due to reduced visibility in some areas.”