Teen injured, thousands without power after strong storms rip through Quebec
Teenager in critical condition after being trapped under fallen tree
A series of thunderstorms that swept through Quebec on Tuesday evening has left a teenage boy in critical condition in Montreal and thousands without power across the province.
The teenager was injured after being pinned under a tree that collapsed during the storm on Grande-Allée Boulevard in Montreal's Ahuntsic neighbourhood.
Urgences-santé spokesperson, Benjamin Dansereaux, said firefighters worked with paramedics to rescue the boy from under the branches.
He was rushed to hospital in life-threatening condition, he said.
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As the storms made their way across the province, strong winds knocked down branches and even utility poles in some areas, leaving thousands without power and closing down part of Highway 19 in Laval.
A car was damaged on 8th Avenue in Montreal after strong winds and thunderstorms hit the city on Tuesday evening. (Simon-Marc Charron/Radio-Canada)
Winds of between 80 to 100 km/h were registered at the Dorval and Saint-Hubert airports respectively.
As of 6 a.m., on Wednesday, close to 100,000 homes and businesses were still in the dark, with Hydro-Québec saying the hardest hit regions were Montreal, Montérégie, Laurentians, Outaouais, and Lanaudière.
On its website, the power utility said gusts of wind, sometimes reaching over 100 km/h, "caused significant damage to the network and several pieces of equipment need to be replaced."
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At the height of the event, close to 144,000 Hydro-Quebec clients were without power.
More than 500 teams have been dispatched to restore power as quickly as possible.
Strong winds brought down trees and even sectioning hydro poles in some areas of Montreal. (Alain Béland/Radio-Canada)
In Montreal, the storm hit at around 8 p.m., causing major damage at Montreal's Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital.
Dr. Marc Brosseau, a lung specialist at the hospital, described the evening as chaotic.
He said nurses were injured by broken glass after some windows were blown out.
"We had major problems," he said, adding that backup generators didn't work, the intensive-care unit was in the dark and no one was able to carry out surgeries in the operating rooms.
He said, however, that no patients were directly affected by the outage or the damage.
This article was written by Annabelle Olivier, with files from Lauren McCallum, and published for CBC News.
Thumbnail image credit to Simon-Marc Charron/Radio-Canada.