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A deluge of heavy rain due to remnants of the tropical Hurricane Beryl forced the closing of several highways in the Montreal area on Wednesday afternoon, and by 5 p.m. more than 8,000 Hydro-Québec customers in the Montreal region had lost electricity.
Environment and Climate Change Canada had issued a weather alert for the Montreal Island area calling for rainfall amounts of 50 to 80 millimetres, possibly exceeding 120 millimetres in some areas, as well as thunderstorms. ECCC meteorologists warned of flash floods and water pooling on roads, which caused havoc during the afternoon rush hour.
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Major road closures included:
- Highway 15 north (Décarie Expressway) between Côte-St-Luc Rd. and Highway 40.
- Highway 13 north between Hickmore St. and Highway 520.
- The ramp from Highway 15 south to Highway 40 east in the Laurentian Interchange.
- Highway 40 between Highway 13 and Cavendish
Traffic camera footage showed many vehicles stuck on the northbound Décarie Expressway, while traffic was being routed off the road at Côte-St-Luc Rd. The expressway was deserted southbound. The Transport ministry announced the southbound Décarie had reopened at 3:30 p.m.
The Sûreté du Québec warned water accumulation was making driving difficult on highways.
At the Montréal Trudeau International Airport, dozens of flights were delayed or cancelled.
“At this time, there is no impact on the air side and the airport is operational. However, we do have some impacts to the city side in the parking (areas) and traffic around the airport,” said Anne Marcotte, a spokesperson for Aéroports de Montréal.
She noted there is always a “domino effect” during major weather events if there are delays at other airports.
The heavy rain across southern Quebec and eastern Ontario came as the remnants of tropical storm Beryl entered the region. The hurricane, which became a post-tropical cyclone, had caused severe weather in southeast Texas on Monday, killing at least four people there, flooding highways, causing power outages and more than 1,000 cancelled flights.
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