Saguenay | Dozens of properties were damaged by the passage of a microrafal on Wednesday in Saguenay. In the aftermath of the events, several residents were still in shock while cleaning the damage.
Environment Canada has confirmed this meteorological phenomenon according to an analysis carried out by the research group The Northern Tornadoes Project of Western University. The gust that blew on Chicoutimi would have reached 110km/h and it was accompanied by precipitation between 40 and 60mm that has fallen in a very short time.
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“It was like a wall of water and wind,” says Jacques Duguay, whose residence is in the very narrow corridor where the wind swept, near Mont Sainte-Claire, in Chicoutimi. We saw it blowing in the Patio carrier, then, a given moment, it was just white and we heard big cracks. ”
Cleaning
As for him, the time was for cleaning for many neighbors in the aftermath of the impressive meteorological phenomenon which affected a quadrilateral about 400 meters wide and several kilometers in length.
The public works employees of the city of Saguenay were hard at work to clear the streets hampered by the vegetation throughout the day, Thursday.
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Those of Hydro-Québec will work for several hours to restore the situation. When writing these lines, there were still hundreds of households deprived of electricity in the chicoutimi district due to violent thunderstorms.
Inconvenience
Pascale Dufresne was at work when the wind came to the end of an imposing maple located in the center of her field on rue Ballantyne … between her swimming pool and her house. She blew a good blow when she saw her arrival that neither was affected when the big tree has smashed.
“The bulk of the weight of the tree fell on the electric wires,” she explains. A large branch fell and destroyed my pergola, but it did not touch the pool. It went so close! If my [piscine de] 24 feet empties in the courtyard, it would have done all a water damage … “
It was very little for the Pascale Dufresne swimming pool to be touched and poured into the courtyard when the microrafal passed on Wednesday.
Photo Vincent Desbiens
If the damage is impressive, they have nevertheless remained minor, as is the case for the very large majority of residents who live in the microrafal corridor.
Photo Vincent Desbiens
Trees torn off by tens
About four kilometers further west, the Le Ricochet golf club was also affected by the gust on Wednesday afternoon. Between 15 and 20 trees fell by the force of the winds along the route.
“We had players on the field and they were the ones who reported the damage to us. They managed to take shelter when it happened and no one was injured, “said the co -owner of the ricochet, Stéphane Maltais.
Photo Vincent Desbiens
As of Wednesday evening, the vast majority of its workforce concentrated their efforts on the pickup operation, so that the land was already practicable in the afternoon on Thursday.
The co -owner of the Le Ricochet golf club, Stéphane Maltais, pushed a sigh of relief after the passage of the gust. The installations remained intact.
Photo Vincent Desbiens
“We were very lucky. No building has been damaged. It was really very localized as an event, so we are doing very well. ”
