Power back for most after Hydro-Qubec outage affects 200,000 clients in Montreal

As a heat wave causing temperatures reaching humidex values of 40 continued in Montreal Thursday afternoon, a sudden power outage hit about 200,000 Hydro-Qubec customers on the island including Trudeau Airport.

The outage happened at around 3:30 p.m., affecting mostly the West Island and western Montreal. By 8 p.m., power had been restored to most customers.

Hydro-Qubec said the outages were due to a safety mechanism being triggered on one of its high-voltage lines.

"We understand the frustration that people can have, especially on a day like today. We know it's a very hot day and a lot of people depend on electricity for air conditioning," Hydro-Qubecspokesperson Caroline Desrosiers said in a radiointerview with CBC Montreal's Let's Go.

The Quebec utility has experienced several mass outages this year already, including another protection mechanism triggered by forest fire smoke last month.

Desrosiers said the fact that outages during storms often affect the western parts of Montreal more than others is typically due to the amount of trees in those areas, requiring crews to remove branches one by one.

"Today, we're not talking about anything like that," she said, explaining that the protection mechanism was triggeredon a transmission line usually the ones along highways between Laval and the West Island, and that it wouldn't take nearly as much physical labour and time to restore.

A spokesperson for the Trudeau Airport told CBCthe outage was causing some flight delays, but specified that flightscan still land and depart.

"However, arrivals from nearby airports are currently under a ground stop and planes can't depart to Montreal until further notice," spokesperson Eric Forest said.

Travellers were asked to check their flight status before going to the airport. By 5p.m., the airport said its operations were gradually being restored.

WATCH | How does El Nioaffect weather in Canada?

The return of El Nio: inside the weather phenomenon | About That

1 year ago

Duration 5:22

After months of anticipation, the World Meteorological Organization has declared that El Nio is back. Andrew Chang explains what it is and why we can expect more extreme weather with its return.