Updated: Power restored to most customers after bus crash takes down South Shore pylon

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Hydro-Québec restored power by early Sunday evening to nearly all South Shore residents who had been without it since a bus crashed into an electrical pylon in the region shortly before 10 p.m. Saturday. The crash knocked the pylon over and caused about 88,000 Hydro customers to lose power, mostly in St-Hubert, Greenfield Park and St-Bruno.

The pylon is at the intersection of Chambly Rd. and Highway 30. Power was restored overnight to about 16,000 customers but as of 4:30 p.m. Sunday, 65,562 customers were still without power.

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Between 5 and 6 p.m. Sunday, though, things picked up. By 5:15 p.m., there were about 56,000 customers without power and the number dropped to just 132 by 7:15 p.m. Earlier on Sunday, the utility said power was expected to be restored to all affected customers by 5 p.m.

Hydro-Québec crews worked Sunday to restore power to customers by isolating the section where the pylon is located and reconfiguring the high-tension wires so that other power sources could feed the affected lines. The process involved many preparatory steps on Sunday morning and afternoon, said Hydro-Québec spokesperson Jonathan Côté. He explained that, unlike situations in which outages are caused by high winds and felled trees and power is restored gradually, in this case the power would be restored faster — “block by block, from one minute to the next.”

The damaged pylon will have to be rebuilt completely, Hydro-Québec said, and that will take several days.

Two vehicles were involved in the collision at the intersection of Chambly Rd. and Highway 30, Longueuil police spokesperson Ghyslain Vallières said on Sunday morning. One was a bus that left the road and struck the pylon.

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The police said an investigation to determine the circumstances of the incident is underway. Chambly Rd. remained closed in both directions on Sunday, as did the eastbound service road of Highway 30.

Three people were injured — two occupants of the bus and one of the other vehicle. Their lives are not in danger.

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Hydro-Québec described Saturday’s event as highly unusual since vehicles in the area generally travel at low speed and there are guardrails all along the road. A transformer being knocked over is a “one in a million” event, said Côté.

The bus that hit the pylon was carrying volunteer firefighters from the Association des pompiers auxiliaires de la Montérégie (APAM); they were en route to a fire and the bus was presumably travelling at considerable speed, Côté said.

The vehicle is not a fire truck, but an emergency support vehicle used by the volunteer firefighters’ association to assist victims.

“APAM is truly sorry for the inconveniences resulting from this accident and our thoughts are with those affected,” the association said in a statement on Sunday. “The association will co-operate fully with the (police) investigation to shed light on this sad event.”

Hydro-Québec said it quickly secured the perimeter Saturday night to enable emergency crews to intervene safely with those involved in the crash, since there were live high-tension wires on the ground.

When power is restored, Côté recommends that residents not turn air conditioning up to maximum and should refrain from using appliances that consume considerable energy.

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