Quebec officials say about 1,100 workers are out restoring power to the 1.1 million who lost it amid an ice storm Wednesday. They expect to have a third restored within 24 hours.
While Wednesday’s ice storm recalls the 1998 ice storm that ravaged the region, officials say it won’t be that bad this time. In the 1998 storm, about 1.4 million lost power in Quebec and it took weeks to restore. By the end, 35 people had died and the aftermath cost more than $5 billion.
“Its not the same thing. At that time, there was a lot more ice over four days. It was focused in urban areas," Public Security Minister Francois Bonnardel told reporters at the national assembly Thursday morning.
The “good news, so to speak” this time, he said, is that the outages are very concentrated. About 25 percent of the breakdowns serve 1,000 or more homes, so for each point workers repair many homes have their power restored. Half of the outages are in Montreal.
Bonnardel and Energy Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon were hesitant to say at this time how long until all power would be restored. They have 1,100 workers deployed, and offers from New Brunswick and Ontario for help, Bonnardel said.
They also said they didn’t have any figures yet to give for the costs. “We will see after this ice storm what may be the cost for the municipalities,“ Bonnardel said. ”Will see if there is any demand to financially support these municipalities.”
The government directed its efforts first at hospitals and long-term care homes, Bonnardel said. Two warming centres are open, one in Laval and another in Cantley, Outaouais.
“We’re telling people not to go camping in their house,“ Bonnardel said, referring to the fire risk of using camp stoves indoors. ”We hope ... that people will get back their electricity very rapidly.”
Regarding the difficulty Quebecers were encountering contacting emergency services, Bonnardel said the ice storm is passing and things are returning to normal.
He said two rivers are being watched for flooding because they have reached the threshold for surveillance, but they are “not concerning at the moment.” Rain is not expected and the flood risk is low, he said.
