Powerful storm leaves trail of destruction in Quebec
The power is returning and most streets have reopened, but it will take weeks to clear the debris and decades for a Montreal park to return to its leafy glory.
On Wednesday, residents of blacked-out streets awoke to the buzz of chainsaws in the west-end neighbourhood of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce (N.D.G.) as Hydro-Québec crews, city workers and private tree-trimmers cleaned up after Tuesday’s brief but powerful storm left a trail of destruction in its wake.
The “microburst,” which witnesses say lasted from 30 seconds to two or three minutes, devastated trees, which in turned cut power lines and damaged homes and cars over a three-kilometre area.
There were no reports of serious injuries.
While as capable as a tornado to create damage, a microburst is a sudden and powerful downdraft that usually occurs during severe thunderstorms.
Environment Canada said winds reached 120 km/h during the microburst.
Russell Copeman, mayor of the borough, said about 50 to 100 trees — some of them more than 100 years old — were severely damaged. In the affected area, the damage was as extensive or worse than the 1998 ice storm, he added.
By the end of Wednesday, all streets in the area were expected to be reopened, with power restored to most of the homes, he said.
The storm devastated the borough’s biggest park — N.D.G. Park. Many trees were snapped like twigs by the force of the storm.
Copeman said the park will be closed for several days while workers clear downed trees. After that, city experts will take a closer look to see which trees can be saved and which must be felled.
“Then we’ll start looking at replanting trees, but even if we plant fast-growing trees, it’s going to be decades before the park comes back to the way it was,” Copeman said.
On Wednesday, in sections of the park where damaged trees were close to sidewalks, workers were cutting branches and feeding them to a wood chipper, as crowds of onlookers took photos.
Brenda Keesal, a nearby resident, was surveying the damage at the park. She watched the storm from a café on Tuesday.
“All of a sudden everything went horizontal — the gusts of wind were so strong, I couldn’t keep the heavy wooden door closed. It kept whooshing open.”
In the café, “there was a moment of complete chaos and fear. Torrential rain, explosive wind.”
She said a woman suffered a bad cut when flying glass hit her arm. A veterinarian from a nearby clinic helped clean the wound, but “there was a lot of blood and she needed major stitches,” Keesal said.
A series of violent storms swept across Quebec on Tuesday. In Lachute, 80 km northwest of Montreal, a tornado touched down.
Meteorologist Amelie Bertrand said Wednesday a team dispatched to Lachute confirmed an EF-1 tornado with winds reaching about 175 km/h struck in the town.
Lachute officials said the tornado hit at about 6:15 p.m., damaging about 150 residences, including around 10 that are now uninhabitable. There were no serious injuries.
The tornado was the sixth reported so far this year in Quebec.
Hydro-Québec said about 115,000 customers lost power at the peak and that some 12,000 remained without electricity as of Wednesday afternoon.
Most customers’ power was expected to be restored by the end of day as 250 crews worked around the clock.
Hydro-Québec spokesman Serge Abregel said one street in N.D.G. saw half its trees crash to the ground as well as having four hydro poles knocked down, wires and all.
“We saw extreme wind gusts yesterday ... so the damage to the network was extensive,” Abregel said.