A mobilized response

Two major weather events hit Québec hard in 2022. The first was the derecho, a 300-km storm front that blew through Québec on May 21, 2022, with gusts of up to 150 km/h, causing significant damage. The aftermath saw us replace 1,125 poles and 400 transformers, and carry out almost $80 million worth of repairs. At the storm’s peak, 554,000 customers located mainly in the Outaouais, Laurentides, Lanaudière, Maurice and city of Québec regions were left in the dark, mainly due to trees coming into contact with power lines because of the wind and rain. More than 2,000 employees worked flat out for 11 days to restore service to homes and businesses. The second occurred just before Christmas, when a major winter storm brought with it significant snowfall, extremely strong winds and blowing snow, depriving some 670,000 customers of power. Over 1,000 employees got to work under very challenging conditions, with fallen power lines brought down by the violent winds or under the weight of broken branches. The cost to restore service comes to almost $55 million.