School closures, power outages as heavy snow, rain pummel Quebec

Dozens of schools are closed and many homes and businesses are in the dark after a wintry blast of heavy snow, ice pellets and rain began sweeping across the province Tuesday. 

As of 6:45 p.m. Wednesday, Hydro-Québec was logging 80 outages, affecting 10,908 customers across the province.

The Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board shuttered several schools in the Laurentians and all Quebec City school service centres are closed. 

Many schools on the North Shore are also closed. 

Montreal schools are open after 16 centimetres of snow fell Tuesday night, turning into freezing rain and finally rain Wednesday morning, kicking off a slushy start to the work commute. 

Up to 20 millimetres of rain is expected to fall on the city on Wednesday.

"Because of this rain and we're near freezing temperature, roads might be icy so we need to be careful," said Louis-André Bertrand, spokesperson for Quebec's Transport Ministry (MTQ.) 

Further northeast, however, Quebec City is digging out of 21 centimetres of snow overnight and could see up to 40 by Wednesday night. Nearly 40 centimetres of snow has already fallen in some areas of the Laurentians and Lanaudière regions. 

In the Chaudière-Appalaches region, wind gusts between 80 and 100 km/h are expected, as well as near zero visibility. Some minor road closures are in effect. 

Meanwhile, the main highway between Baie-Comeau and Sept-Îles on the North Shore is closed and road conditions are especially poor in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint Jean, the Lower St. Lawrence and Gaspé. 

The MTQ is urging motorists to be cautious if they have to travel and use their hazard lights if visibility is poor. 

Bus overturned by high winds in Bury, Que. 

Nearly 40 kilometres east of Sherbrooke, a passenger bus was overturned by high winds on route 108 in Bury, Que. 

Louis-Philippe Ruel, a public relations officer with the Sûreté du Québec (SQ), says it's very uncommon to see accidents caused by wind gusts.

He confirmed that 12 people had to be transported to two local hospitals but said their injuries were minor. 

The accident occurred just before 5 a.m. this morning. Environment Canada confirmed to Radio-Canada that gusts ranging from 75 to 95 km/h hit the region between 3 a.m. to 6 a.m. Wednesday.

Sylvain Brodeur, the bus driver, said it was a difficult drive and strong winds made him lose control. 

"I couldn't bring the bus back. There was nothing I could do," said Brodeur.

"You get disoriented. At the time, I was looking back, I was looking at my passengers, I was hoping that no one would be seriously hurt. That's all I wanted to see. I saw a lady lying on the ground, and I hoped it wasn't too serious."

Passengers on the bus were coming from Lac-Mégantic, Que., and were headed to Trudeau Airport in Dorval for a flight to Jamaica.

The weather has also caused multiple flight cancellations and delays at Montreal's Trudeau International Airport. The airport is urging travellers to check their flight status before showing up. 

Thousands without power

Across the Eastern Townships, about 6,000 customers are still dealing with power failures. That number is down from more than 30,000 early Wednesday morning. 

"You have heavy snow and then rain and then wind, so branches are falling, breaking, falling on our grid, and that will unavoidably provoke outages," said Hydro-Québec spokesperson Francis Labbé. 

About 2,900 clients in the Laurentians are without power, while most of the outages in Chaudière-Appalaches and central Quebec regions have been resolved. 

Hydro-Québec says the majority of affected homes should get their lights back on by Wednesday evening, however the timeline remains unclear for the city of Sherbrooke and the towns of Granby and Lac-Mégantic.

Labbé says 1,000 Hydro-Québec employees, or 400 crews, will be on the ground in all affected regions, adding more outages could occur as some areas get hit with the worst of the wind later in the day. 

Mont Sutton ski resort is closed due to lack of power and very strong winds, according to its website. The mountain will be open Thursday if power is restored. 

But the weather has created other opportunities for outdoor sports enthusiasts.

David Rochette was among the snowboarders who took advantage of the snowfall early Wednesday morning in Quebec City. He snowboarded down the sidewalks, saying that by tomorrow, these kind of "sweet spot" conditions won't exist.