Thousands without power in Hochelaga borough due to gas leak [Video]

A gas leak in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough forced Hydro-Quebec to cut power to thousands of customers.

A spokesperson for Hydro-Quebec says 40,000 clients are without power in the general vicinity of Pie-IX Boulevard and Hochelaga Street.

William Murray with the Montreal Fire Service said that a call came in at around 3:38 p.m. reporting a gas leak.

Murray said that the leak was caused when a six-inch pipe was damaged by someone doing excavation work.

“Because of the gas leak they cut about 35 lines of 12,000 watts at Hydro. One line represents 3,000 customers. Right now, they were able to reconnect some lines, restoring power to several lines,” Murray said.

Furthermore, he said Energir workers are on-site doing the necessary work to stop the leak and reconnect the electricity.

“Within an hour everything should be back to normal,” Murray noted.