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Some 400,000 homes without power after ice storm hits Canada

"Our teams are hard at work and we are confident that a further 200,000 customers will have their power back by the end of the day," says electricity provider Hydro-Quebec.

A Hydro Quebec crew works on a power line following an ice storm in Montreal.

Hundreds of thousands of homes in eastern Canada have remained without power, two days after an ice storm killed three people and caused widespread property damage, particularly in Montreal.

About 400,000 homes in Quebec were in the dark, down from 1.1 million at the height of the outages.

"We have restored power to over 50 percent of the customers affected by the outages," said electricity provider Hydro-Quebec on Friday.

"Our teams are hard at work and we are confident that a further 200,000 customers will have their power back by the end of the day," the utility company added.

Some homes though will be without electricity until Sunday, potentially Monday, said Hydro-Quebec spokesman Regis Tellier.

More favourable weather conditions should "accelerate the restoration of service," he said.

Reuters

A view shows the landscape after an ice storm, in Apple Hill, Ontario.

Storm deaths

Authorities also reported a third storm-related death.

In Saint-Joseph-Du-Lac, Quebec, police Inspector Jean Philippe Labbe said a woman found her husband unconscious in the garage where he was running a generator.

Labbe said the 75-year-old died after being taken to hospital. He said firefighters determined carbon monoxide [CO] levels in the garage were 20 times the norm.

Montreal's health authority said dozens of people suffered from carbon monoxide poisoning after using outdoor appliances inside during the blackout caused by Wednesday’s ice storm.

Officials say they received more than 60 reports of CO poisoning over the course of several hours Friday, while emergency rooms were at 200 percent capacity.