It’s not just Ottawa and Gatineau that were badly affected by Saturday’s storm, part of eastern Ontario also suffered from the ravages of the wind. According to Hydro Ottawa, the damage is more numerous and spread over a larger territory than during the ice storm in 1998.
Several residences were damaged in the municipality of Clarence-Rockland. The mayor, Mario Zanth, indicates that emergency stations have been set up and that citizens can come and get water there.
He invites residents to be patient since it will take several days before everything returns to normal.
It’s time to prepare for at least a week
he said in an interview. We have no way of knowing when the electricity will come back.
” We have 200 poles down and it won’t be overnight [qu’on pourra] reconnect a grid like that. »
Mr. Zanth specifies that the priority will be to supply gas stations and grocery stores.
On Monday, Mario Zanth received a visit from outgoing MP Amanda Simard and her leader Steven Del Duca.
Photo: The Canadian Press/Justin Tang
Waiting in Quebec, too
On Quebec soil, the outskirts were not spared either. In the municipality of Duhamel, near Lac-Simon, the damage is significant and a state of emergency has even been declared.
The mayor of Duhamel, David Pharand, explains that multiple vehicles and properties
have been damaged. Firefighters and blue collar workers had to intervene as people were injured.
” The Fire Department had to clear the roads because we were informed that there were injuries on the territory. »
Shortly after the storm, access to the municipality by road 321 was closed by the fall of many trees
he says. The paramedics could not go up to our municipality to help injured people.
On Sunday, Mr. Pharand and his team visited residents who did not understand what was happening since the communication networks were out of service.
We know that we have several days before Hydro-Québec can go up in our environment which is very forest
underlines the mayor. It’s very difficult for the Hydro-Québec team to move forward in a devastated forest.
The latter was to meet the members of the council in order to extend the state of emergency which expired in the morning of Tuesday.
In Val-de-Monts, the power was partially restored in the morning on Tuesday. It gets better as it goes
supports the councilor and deputy mayor of the municipality, Claude Bergeron. Currently, Hydro-Québec is working very hard in the area, so power is restored in several places.
The municipality has set up several services to accommodate citizens. They can get drinking water at the fire station, take a shower at the arena and can also cook their meals at the community centre.
However, the telephone lines are still out of service, adds Mr. Bergeron. He wishes the residents good luck and asks them to be patient.
Met on the ground, Martin Fiset, head of works for Hydro-Quebec mentions with optimism that the power could be restored for all by Thursday.
It requires a lot of manpower, it often requires MTB because it’s not too accessible
he explains. We won’t be idle for a couple of days, that’s for sure!
With information from Marie-Jeanne Dubreuil and Rebecca Kwan
Reference-ici.radio-canada.ca