Hundreds of thousands of people were left without power in Quebec and Ontario ahead of Christmas Eve as a major winter storm barrelled into the region, bringing heavy snowfall, rain and strong winds that led to flight cancellations and closed highways.
Most of eastern Ontario got 10 centimetres of snow, while some parts of the region, like Pembroke, Ont., got up to 20 cm, he said. Ottawa received about 10 cm, while Quebec's Laurentians and Gatineau Hills got between 20 cm and 30 cm.
The number of power outages across Quebec rose steadily for much of the day, with winds reaching 100 kilometres per hour in some parts of the province, snapping power lines and downing trees. By 5 p.m., the number of Hydro-Quebec customers without power had declined slightly to around 340,000, including more than 80,000 customers in the Quebec City area.
The Quebec City area is the most affected part of the province, he said, "mainly because of the very violent wind gusts that were blowing since this morning -- wind gusts at over 100 kilometres per hour," he said. "Paramedics are often proceeding to one call and coming across other incidents like motor-vehicle collisions on their way there, where they're radioing in for additional resources," he said.
At Vancouver's airport, Toronto resident Vanessa Romano was in an Air Canada queue trying to work out a way home for Christmas after flying from Singapore, where she is an exchange student. She said she received a notification during a layover in Hong Kong that the Vancouver-Toronto leg of her journey, scheduled for 8 a.m. Friday, had been cancelled.
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