High winds cause widespread blackouts, brick walls collapse in Montreal

Strong winds overnight caused power outages for tens of thousands of homes and businesses in Quebec, along with the partial collapse of three brick walls in the Montreal area.

Winds reached 91 kilometres an hour at times in some areas, including the Montreal region.

Early Monday morning, more than 65,000 Hydro-Québec customers without power, most in the Montérégie, Laurentians, and lower St Lawrence regions. By noon, that number dropped to about 10,000.

Falling bricks smash van window

The strong winds and sudden drop temperature also caused three brick walls to collapse in Montreal.

The first happened near the intersection of Ontario and Dorion streets, at around 11:30 p.m. on Sunday. 

The top section of a triplex's brick wall was brought down by the winds, smashing the back window of a van in the process. 

Montreal police Const. André Leclerc says Ontario was open to traffic this morning but Dorion remained closed.

Just over two hours later, when winds peaked at 91 kilometres per hour, two other brick walls in the city partially collapsed.

One was at a high-rise apartment building on St-Mathieu Street in downtown Montreal, between Sherbrooke and de Maisonneuve.

Part of the wall collapsed into the alley, and St-Mathieu was blocked off in that area.

Marisa Radatz lives on the eighth floor of the building.

"Suddenly, around 1 a.m., I heard this really, really loud noise behind my room in the wall. It kind of sounded like something in the walls fell down. At that moment, I was very nervous so I went down to the lobby to see, and then I saw all the bricks lying in the alleyway," Radatz said.

The other building that was damaged was a triplex on Gilford Street near Henri-Julien Avenue.

The bricks near the top of the building fell, landing in a small green space below. 

No one was injured in any of the incidents.

Montreal police say city engineers will inspect the buildings this morning to determine what happens next.