Quebec continues to deal with the devastation caused by an ice storm that swept through the province last Wednesday.
The storm has left large portions of the province without power for several days, with 44,000 Hydro-Quebec customers still without power as of Sunday evening.
Regis Tellier, Hydro-Quebec’s vice-president of operations and maintenance, told reporters on Sunday morning that power had been restored to 90% of the more than one million customers who lost electricity as a result of the storm.
“The goal is to reconnect 95% today, by the end of the day, and then on Monday, almost all the remaining customers,” he said via a report by The Canadian Press, adding that some complex cases may not be resolved until Tuesday.
The ice storm also had deadly consequences, with three deaths reported in Quebec and neighbouring Ontario.
Two of the reported fatalities were caused by falling tree branches, according to the Globe and Mail, while the third was due to carbon-monoxide poisoning from a generator that ran in an enclosed space.
Additionally, Simon Bilodeau of the Montreal Public Health Emergency Measures Office said that at least 60 people had from suffered carbon-monoxide intoxication in Montreal since the outages began. Another 16 people were treated for the same condition in Laval, according to Pierre-Yves Séguin, spokesperson of the city’s health and social services centre.
As a result, emergency officials have warned residents not to use fuel-burning heaters or generators indoors, advising those seeking warmth to head to emergency shelters instead.
Meanwhile, the Insurance Bureau of Canada advised those with damage to their homes or cars to take photos of the damage so they can make their insurance claims.
“Insurers are deploying every resource they have to make sure that they treat calls and claims as quickly as possible,” said Pierre Babinsky, IBC’s director of communications and public affairs.
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