Those who dwell in the dark take their troubles patiently

Residents left in the dark for more than 96 hours began to find time in Quebec on Tuesday, while a race against time at Hydro-Québec continued to reconnect as many users as possible.

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“Long! 43-year-old Simon abandons Drolet, who has not slept much in the last few nights, for fear of something breaking in his house. Fortunately, he can spend his nights with relatives.

On Mont-Clair Avenue, where he lives, Hydro-Quebec does not expect the 17 homes that have been without power since Friday to be restored by tonight. When we visited, the thermometer inside her kitchen read 4.6 degrees Celsius.

Golden neighbors

“Sometimes I feel like screaming. I help,” said Sylvie Michaud, who lives nearby Algae Good neighbors. We bathe at our neighbour’s house’, in my sister’s Beauport. My neighbor heats things up for me. Another neighbor brings us small thermoses with soups, small treats. I have a work colleague who lent me a generator,” he says.

Equipped with two generators, the family of two managed to maintain a relatively acceptable temperature of over 10 degrees. “We can’t wait to have a nice hot meal. Little sandwiches [sic] And cheese, we have our dose! exclaims the 50-year-old.

Despite everything, the two residents are understanding and grateful to the Crown Corporation teams on the ground.

“In my grief, I often thought of the person who had to put it back together, and then the conditions he was in,” said Mr. Drolet said.

False beliefs

However, he would have appreciated more accuracy and realism in Hydro-Québec’s forecasts for the return of service, while the deadline continues to be pushed back from Friday.

“I wonder how much false hope it creates for us. If I had known it would come back from the beginning [seulement] On the 28th, I will quickly process other things. »

Almost everywhere, the situation has led to outbursts of mutual aid between neighboring countries. On Rue des Branches in Lebourgneuf, Andre Larochelle plugged his generator into two of his neighbors’ refrigerators and waited for the power to return.

“We need to help each other out a little bit. I don’t want everyone to lose their food! »

Almost 30,000 without current

In the province, 25,829 customers were without power before 9pm on Tuesday. However, Hydro-Québec expects a return to normal on Wednesday for the majority of its subscribers.

Capitale-Nationale registered 6843 customers in the evening darkness. Portneuf is the worst affected sub-region with 2,766 subscribers still awaiting recovery. Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jan had 8,498 customers without power.

Nearly 1,300 workers were deployed Tuesday to restore power across the province, particularly in New Brunswick and Maine, in addition to reinforcements.

“To date, nearly 650,000 homes have been reconnected to the Hydro-Québec network, or about 95% of all homes without electricity,” the state corporation said Tuesday.

– with QMI Agency