‘Nothing major for us’ reported to police in Montreal region
The Montreal region is getting away lightly compared with the ravages wrought by the superstorm Sandy along parts of the U.S. East Coast and inland.
Gusting, all from the northeast, had peaked at 74 kilometres an hour 11 p.m. Monday, as recorded at Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport in Dorval. Environment Canada lifted its wind warning for the Montreal and Laval regions early Tuesday.
The storm resulted in “nothing major for us,” Constable Anie Lemieux of Montreal police said of any overnight property damage, fallen trees, blowing debris or other significant after-effects from the heavy gusting on Montreal Island.
Environment Canada was calling for a high of 15C for Montreal Wednesday and light showers coupled with winds from the northeast of 20 kilometres an hour by noon.
Most transit operations for the Montreal region ran normally on Tuesday. Morning commuter-train service was slowed on the Vaudreuil-Hudson line by “intermittent sig- nalling problems not related to the weather,” said Claudia Martin, a spokeswoman for the Agence métropolitaine de transport.
Trudeau airport remains open but the storm grounded flights to and from the northeast United States as airports in New York, Newark, N.J. and other affected locations. There was no warning about particular flight disturbances on the Trudeau airport website but travellers are encouraged to check their airlines for the latest update, “Your airline is your best source of flight information.”
Amtrak rail service remains off track between Montreal and New York, also for the third day running. But a service restoration plan is underway, according to a statement on its Facebook page.
A total of 50,000 HydroQuébec customers including 5,000 clients across the island of Montreal had been blacked out Monday night because of the storm.
By 7 p.m. Tuesday, 6,300 clients were still without electricity, mostly in the Laurentides region (3,000 clients) and Lanaudière (1,500 clients). Power had been restored to all the Montreal homes, most of which had been blacked out briefly, said a utility spokesman, Yvan Cliche.
In Quebec City Tuesday, Premier Pauline Marois pledged solidarity with U.S. victims of the storm.
And she said 100 HydroQuébec crews are already on the ground helping restore power in ravaged areas of the United States.
Pausing during a speech in the National Assembly on another matter, Marois said since all 125 MNAs were gathered for the first time since the election and the day after the hurricane, it was important to show support.
“I want to express this solidarity of the Quebec people toward our American neighbours who are recovering from a natural disaster of a rare magnitude,” Marois said. “I want to assure them they will have the collaboration of our government in the face of the most urgent situations.”
“We have experience with this kind of situation and we will help our friends as we should,” Marois said.