Hundreds of people on Montreal’s West Island, including those living in a seniors’ home, are without air conditioning on the second day of a scorching heat wave after Hydro-Québec refused to cancel a scheduled power outage for maintenance work.
Highs are set to hit 34 C Wednesday, with humidity making it feel like 44 C.
But as of 7 a.m., despite pleas from residents to postpone, Hydro-Québec cut off power for more than 1,600 clients in Pointe-Claire in order to replace some of its infrastructure in the area.
The public utility says it often cancels smaller jobs when there is a heat wave, but it had no choice but to proceed today because of the complexity of the work.
“The project is absolutely crucial to make sure that people in the area don’t have a longer power outage,” said Hydro-Québec spokesperson Gabrielle LeBlanc on CBC Montreal’s Daybreak.
She said the project also required a lot of co-ordination between multiple teams, which made it hard to postpone.
Acknowledging that it’s hard to live without air conditioning during a heat wave, Leblanc said Hydro-Québec moved up the start time of its maintenance work and brought in more teams to help complete it before the heat reaches its peak.
The work should now be finished at 1 p.m. instead of 3 p.m.
That does little to comfort Rosalyn Beaudoin, an 80-year-old living in a condo near the Chartwell Le Wellesley retirement home, which is impacted by the outage.
“There are a lot of seniors in this building and in this neighbourhood …people that are sick, people that can barely walk,” she said.
“It doesn’t seem right that they should have to live through that.”
Hydro-Québec says it has been in touch with the residence to make sure it has everything it needs to keep machines running and to offer tips to keep residents cool.
In times of sweltering heat, children younger than four and seniors are among the most vulnerable. The city of Montreal recommends people drink plenty of water, find a place with air conditioning and be on guard for symptoms of heat-related illnesses.