One dead in severe storms

A violent rain and wind storm ripped across southern Quebec Friday, leaving a 21-year-old city employee dead after she was hit by a falling branch at a Boucherville municipal pool.

The branch injured two other people when it fell just before 4 p.m. at Parc Paul VI, said a Longueuil police spokesman, Jean-Pierre Voutsinos.

A 40-year-old woman was slightly injured and a 6-year-old boy suffered serious injuries, Voutsinos said.

The storm, punctuated by intense thunder and lightning, took down power lines across southern Quebec.

As of 9 p.m., 425,000 Hydro-Québec customers remained without electricity, including 112,000 in the Laurentians and 67,000 in Montreal, the utility said.

On Friday night, Environment Canada briefly issued tornado warnings for Châteauguay, the Granby-Waterloo area and the StJean-Marieville area.

Many flights were delayed or cancelled at Trudeau Airport.

Earlier in the day, six children and two adults were slightly injured north of Montreal after a tent they were under to avoid heavy rain collapsed on top of them because of the strong winds.

The children, ages 5 to 12, and adults were at a day camp in a park in Prévost, 75 kilometres northwest of Montreal, when the storm hit at 3:15 p.m., said a Sûreté du Québec spokesman, Gino Paré.

He said all eight were taken to a hospital, but their injuries were minor.

At 5:45 p.m., a section of Highway 15 (the Laurentian Autoroute) near Highway 640 was closed in both directions after high winds blew construction scaffolding onto the highway.

It took about two hours to remove the debris, exacerbating traffic.

Earlier in the day, southern Quebec experienced stifling heat, with humidex values exceeding the warning threshold of 40.

In the afternoon, Environment Canada issued severe thunderstorm warnings for Montreal and Laval, warning people to seek shelter.

The weather service warned strong southwesterly winds of up to 40 kilometres per hour could cause branches to break and fall, and predicted power outages.

At 3 p.m., the temperature in Montreal soared to 33 Celsius, with the humidex reaching 43. The storm clouds started rolling in soon after.

By 4 p.m., the temperature had dropped to 23 C.

At 8:30 p.m., Environment Canada lifted its high-heat and humidity warning and severe-thunderstorm watch for Montreal and Laval.

After several days of hot, humid weather, temperatures will drop in the coming days.

On Saturday, Environment Canada is forecasting a high of 28 C, with a mix of sun and cloud and a 40-per-cent chance of showers late in the afternoon.

Sunday is expected to be sunny, with a high of 22 C.