Thousands without power during extreme heat after storm rolls through Quebec City area

Broken trees litter a street near Braves Park in Quebec on Tuesday, June 24, 2025, after a storm rolled through the region the night before. (Source: Noovo Info)

Several thousand customers in the Quebec City area are without power in the middle of extremely hot weather after a powerful storm swept through the region on Monday.

The storm also forced the evacuation of Fête Nationale celebrations on the Plains of Abraham, sending revelers running for cover amid torrential rain and lightning strikes.

At the height of the outage Monday evening, more than 120,000 people lost power. According to Hydro-Quebec, there were more than 77,000 households in the Quebec City and Chaudière-Appalaches regions with no electricity as of 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.

The number dropped to about 43,000 in the early afternoon. The outages fell to about 31,000 by the early evening hours.

The power utility reported that some households might not get the power back on until Wednesday evening.

ECCC had warned that violent wind gusts of up to 100 km/h were possible in the area ahead of Monday’s storm. Quebec City police had to issue a plea to the public after being overwhelmed with 911 calls, telling residents that 911 is meant for emergencies only. More than 800 were received during Monday’s storm, 60 of which required a response from the fire department.

The region is under a heat warning for a second day on Tuesday. Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) issued the warning for most of southern Quebec and southern Ontario. In Quebec City, the forecast is calling for a high of 32 C, with humidex making it feel more like 40. The UV index is 9 or very high.

Quebec’s Minister of Energy, Christine Fréchette, said in a post on X that Hydro-Quebec crews were deployed to resolve more than 464 outages across the province on Tuesday.

“The outages were caused by strong winds and vegetation coming into contact with the distribution network,” the minister added.