A powerful winter storm sweeping across Québec has left around 90,000 households without electricity, forcing Hydro-Québec into an urgent, province-wide effort to restore power as residents endure cold homes, darkened streets and mounting disruption.

Strong wind gusts and heavy rain brought down trees and branches across large parts of southern and central Québec, snapping power lines and cutting service to entire neighbourhoods. Outage numbers fluctuated throughout Friday as crews restored electricity in some areas while new faults appeared elsewhere.

For many residents, the blackout arrived without warning.

“The lights flickered for a second and then everything went out,” said Marie-Claude Tremblay, who lives on Montréal’s South Shore. “Within an hour you could already feel the temperature dropping. You just don’t know how long it’s going to last.”

Across social media, residents shared images of fallen branches, blocked streets and candle-lit living rooms as the storm continued to move through the province. Some reported electricity returning briefly before cutting out again as winds strengthened overnight.

Hydro-Québec said wind-related damage was the main cause of the outages, with vegetation brought down onto distribution lines in both urban and rural areas. The utility deployed hundreds of workers across the province, prioritising repairs that would restore power to the largest number of customers first.

“You can see the trucks everywhere,” said Daniel Morin, who has been without power since early morning in the Laurentians. “They’re working, but when it’s dark and cold, every hour feels longer.”

While Québec was the hardest-hit, the same storm system brought hazardous conditions to parts of eastern Ontario and Atlantic Canada, contributing to difficult travel and scattered service disruptions. Weather warnings for high winds remained in place across several regions as conditions slowly eased.

Québec’s vast, tree-lined power network has long been vulnerable to windstorms, even as the province relies heavily on hydroelectric power. Climate experts have warned that intense weather events are becoming more frequent, increasing pressure on utilities to reinforce infrastructure while responding to immediate outages.

Real-time outage updates continue to change as repairs progress, with Hydro-Québec directing customers to its official outage map for the latest information: Hydro-Québec power outage report .

National coverage of the storm and its impact on Québec’s power grid has also been reported by Canadian media, including CityNews .

For those still waiting in the dark, the uncertainty remains the hardest part.

“You can deal with the cold if you know when it will end,” Tremblay said. “It’s the not knowing that really gets to people.”