Tens of thousands of Quebecers without power after strong winds shake Montreal area

Hydro-Québec says about 120,000 clients lost power at the height of the event late Friday, but service had been restored to 65 per cent of them by early morning.

Tens of thousands of Quebecers woke up this morning in the dark after nearly 100-kilometre per hour wind gusts took down power lines across the greater Montreal area.

Hydro-Québec says about 120,000 clients lost power at the height of the event late Friday, but service had been restored to 65 per cent of them by early morning.

The regions that were more affected were the Laurentians with 13,686 outages, followed by the Outaouais region in western Quebec with more than 12,300.

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The utility said this morning that about 100 teams were mobilized to restore power.

Environment Canada says high southwesterly winds were reported at several stations in the south of the province on Friday evening, causing power outages and overturned utility poles.

It reported wind gusts of 107 kilometres per hour in Terrebonne, just north of Montreal, and 92 km/h in Montreal.