Tens of thousands of West Island customers lose electricity

Tens of thousands of people in Montreal’s West Island had no electricity late Tuesday afternoon in the middle of a special weather statement due to the high temperatures.

As many as 54,000 Hydro Quebec customers lost power during the outage as the temperature hovered at 31 C. 

A breakdown of the Des Sources substation is the cause of the power outage, according to Hydro Quebec.

In response to a question posed on social media by Jacques-Cartier MNA Greg Kelley, the Crown corporation said the power outage is related to equipment failure and “doesn’t seem to be due to demand” for electricity.

The number of households without electricity dropped to about 37,000 in the early evening hours before it fell to under 1,000 shortly before 9 p.m.