Montreal is facing significant power outages, leaving thousands without electricity during a cold spell. Crews are working to restore service.
Montreal: So, there was a big power outage in Montreal on Tuesday morning. It hit around 100,000 homes at one point, and by 8:45 a.m., over 50,000 people were still without power.
The outage stretched from St-Laurent to just before Pie-IX, and included areas like Ahuntsic, Villeray, and Rosemont. It all started around 6:30 a.m. because of a problem at a substation. Apparently, the cold weather made everyone crank up their heaters, which overloaded the grid.
Hydro-Québec said they were using a whopping 38,960 megawatts of electricity at peak demand. They expect even more usage on Wednesday as the temperatures keep dropping. They’re predicting around 42,000 megawatts will be needed.
Hydro-Québec’s spokesperson, Lynn St-Laurent, mentioned that crews are already on the scene working to get the power back on. Luckily, some customers were able to get their power restored quickly through their online service.
If you want to keep an eye on the situation, you can track the power outage online.
