Thousands are still without power in Montreal Sunday, as a polar vortex that brought frigid temperatures to Quebec continues to linger.
As of 5 p.m., there were more than 9,000 customers across the province without power, including some 5,600 on the Island of Montreal with the majority of those affected located in the Côte Saint-Luc and Notre-Dame-de-Grâce (NDG) areas.
Hydro-Québec spokesperson Cendrix Bouchard said equipment failure at the Hampstead substation caused the outages in Côte Saint-Luc, but he couldn’t confirm if the same was true for NDG.
Bouchard said it’s not known if the problem is related to the cold, and that further investigation would be needed.
“But right now, the priority is to restore power,” he said. “We have a few thousand customers who were back on the grid overnight and we’re working on gradually having everybody back with service over the course of today.”
Bouchard warned, however, that for some, the lights might not come back on until Monday.
In an update on its website Sunday, the City of Côte Saint-Luc said that the extreme cold and “ongoing technical constraints” were forcing Hydro-Québec to restore power one home at a time, rather than section by section, resulting in a slower pace.
Côte Saint-Luc Mayor David Tordjman said he was hopeful the situation would be resolved by Sunday evening.
He urged residents, however, to minimize their power consumption to avoid overloading the system while repairs are underway.
Options for staying warm
On Saturday evening, the Canadian Red Cross opened an emergency shelter at the Côte-des-Neiges community centre for residents of Côte Saint-Luc and NDG affected by the outages.
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How to stay safe during this weekend’s polar vortex
Quebec is dealing with a cold snap that is expected to last all weekend. Wind chill values are close to -40C in some parts of the province and the City of Montreal is putting in place an extreme cold intervention plan.
The emergency shelter, and transport services to get there, will be in place again Sunday night.
The City of Côte Saint-Luc also opened the Aquatic and Community Centre (ACC), located at 5794 Parkhaven Ave., Sunday morning for residents in need of a warm space.
Warm beverages and warm showers are available, but all other scheduled activities at the ACC have been cancelled.
Côte Saint-Luc resident Leslie Satenstein hasn’t had power in his home since Saturday.
When he went to bed, the temperature inside his home was around 15 C but it had dropped to 7 C by morning.
Leslie Satenstein brought a power bar and extension cord to the community centre in Côte Saint-Luc to help his neighbours charge their devices. (Gloria Henriquez/CBC )
Satenstein said he’s within walking distance of the community centre, so he stopped by on Sunday to charge his phone and warm up.
He also brought along a power bar so that others could charge their electronic devices.
Other warming locations include the library, which is open until 9 p.m., and the Samuel Moskovitch Arena.
Wellness checks being carried out
Tordjman said in addition to warming centres, the city has been carrying out wellness checks to ensure residents are safe.
“The concern is a lot of seniors, they’re not necessarily on social media or don’t have the resources to necessarily get the information, so we’ve been going door to door,” he said.
Montreal police and firefighters have also been going to door to door in affected areas.
In the borough of Côte‑des‑Neiges–Notre‑Dame‑de‑Grâce, affected residents can warm up at the Cenre Communautaire Monkland, Centre sportif Trenholme, the NDG library, the Doug-Harvey arena and the Centre sportif Côte-des-Neiges. All locations will be open until 10 p.m.
In a notice, the City of Côte Saint-Luc told people to leave a “small stream of water running at one of your sinks to help avoid your pipes freezing,” if they left their home due to a power outage.
People are also being encouraged to reach out to friends and family who don’t have power and offer them a place to stay.
Up to 20 cm of snow possible for Montreal area
Meanwhile, Environment and Climate Change Canada has issued a yellow snowfall warning for the Montreal area and other parts of Southern Quebec, including Sherbrooke, with 15 to 20 cm of snow forecast.
Snow is expected to begin late Sunday evening and continue into Monday, with a possible impact on the morning rush hour.
The weather agency is urging caution on the roads warning that cold temperatures, combined with snow, could make for slippery surfaces.
Visibility in certain areas could also be reduced due to wind and powdery snow.
As of Sunday morning, Environment and Climate Change Canada had yet to issue a snowfall warning for the Quebec City area but a special weather statement was in effect, saying the region could get 10 centimetres of snow.
A yellow cold warning, however, remained in place for the area as in many other parts of the province.