April snowstorm hits Eastern Ontario and southwest Québec

After a winter that did not seem like much of a winter, a snowstorm that hit the region on Wednesday, April 3 and Thursday April 4 was a bit of a shock to many residents. Due to wind and heavy snow, power outages were widespread across Prescott and Russell counties. The areas most seriously affected were The Nation, Champlain, East Hawkesbury, Alfred and Plantagenet, and Clarence-Rockland. Vankleek Hill was without electricity all day on Thursday with expected restoration sometime Thursday night. There were also hundreds of people without power in North Glengarry. At around noon on Thursday, Hydro One reported about 4,000 customers were without electricity in those areas. Crews from power companies outside the region arrived to assist Hydro One personnel with restoring power. Several vehicles from those other companies were parked at the Vankleek Hill Collegiate Institute parking lot on Thursday evening. Hydro One reported that at the peak of the outages, more than 312,000 customers across Eastern Ontario between Tweed and Bancroft areas to Vankleek Hill were without electricity. As of Friday afternoon, more than 100 Hydro One customers in Prescott-Russell and North Glengarry were still without electricity. In Argenteuil, there were smaller power outages across Grenville-sur-la-Rouge and Brownsburg-Chatham. Visibility on roads was poor at times. Drifting snow also made staying on the road difficult. Police were busy responding to collisions and public works crews were out with snowplows. Schools across the region were closed Thursday, and some remained closed Friday, giving students an unexpected two-day week following Easter. Hopefully for the final time this spring, many residents were busy removing snow from their driveways and sidewalks on Thursday. Photos: James Morgan