{"id":519174,"date":"2026-03-12T13:36:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T13:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/519174\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T13:36:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T13:36:09","slug":"hundreds-of-thousands-without-power-more-school-closures-in-quebec-following-storm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/519174\/","title":{"rendered":"Hundreds of thousands without power, more school closures in Quebec following storm"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Listen to this article<\/p>\n

Estimated 3 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

More than 200,000 Hydro-Qu\u00e9bec customers are without electricity Thursday morning, after freezing rain and high winds brought down power lines overnight. <\/p>\n

While the province avoided the worst of the anticipated ice storm<\/a>, some schools in southern Quebec remained closed for a second day due to poor road conditions and power outages.<\/p>\n

The Lester B. Pearson School Board, the New Frontiers School Board and the Centre de services scolaire des Patriotes are closed again Thursday. <\/p>\n

The English Montreal School Board, the Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board and the Centre de services scolaire de Montr\u00e9al all opted to reopen, though a handful of schools in select areas and those without power will remain closed Thursday.<\/p>\n

Montreal and the Mont\u00e9r\u00e9gie were among those hardest hit by the outages, with more than 32,000 addresses affected in Montreal and more than 80,000 in the Mont\u00e9r\u00e9gie as of 8 a.m Thursday.<\/p>\n

“Overnight, we had an increase in the number of addresses without power in Quebec,” said Hydro-Qu\u00e9bec spokesperson Cendrix Bouchard. <\/p>\n

The public utility’s 550 teams will be deployed in full force this morning, he said, but stressed that difficult conditions could make it slower to restore service in some areas.<\/p>\n

“Just getting to an outage will take longer than usual,” Bouchard said.<\/p>\n

“The roads are slippery for everybody, and we always remind the workers to always stay safe.”<\/p>\n

REM service disrupted<\/p>\n

Simon Legault, a meteorologist with Environment Canada, told CBC Montreal’s Daybreak that high winds today could lead to further power outages. <\/p>\n

He also said temperatures are expected to drop, which could make for problems on the roads where there was a buildup of water. <\/p>\n

Service was disrupted on Montreal’s light-rail network, the REM, during the morning commute between the Gare-Centrale and Brossard stations. <\/p>\n

Shuttle buses had to be put in place on the South Shore and Nuns’ Island. <\/p>\n

A spokesperson said service was gradually being restored as of 9 a.m. after ice had been cleared off the cables.<\/p>\n

\"peoplePeople wait for a shuttle bus after part of the REM was shut down due to ice buildup. (Simon-Marc Charron\/Radio-Canada)Snow further east<\/p>\n

While Montreal and the surrounding area was hit with freezing rain, other parts of the province saw a mix of snow and ice pellets. <\/p>\n

A snowfall warning remained in effect Thursday for Baie-Comeau and Sept-\u00celes, where up to 40 centimetres of snow is expected to fall by Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n

Transport Quebec says road conditions are particularly bad in the C\u00f4te-Nord and Gasp\u00e9 regions. Spokesperson Sarah Bensadoun says parts of Route 132 and Route 138 are closed to trucks today because of safety issues. <\/p>\n

Several schools in the Quebec City area also remained closed Thursday morning, though some daycare services were open. <\/p>\n

WATCH | Tips on how to prepare for extreme weather:\"\"<\/p>\n

Extreme weather event on its way? Here\u2019s how to prepare<\/p>\n

Experts weigh in with safety tips to stay safe and protect your property, food, devices and vehicles during adverse weather events in Quebec.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":519175,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":["post-519174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=519174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519174\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/519175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=519174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=519174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=519174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}