2 Power Failures Darken Quebec, Some U.S. Towns
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MONTREAL — Two power failures blacked out Quebec province and some towns in far northern New England on Monday night and Tuesday morning, leaving more than 6 million people without electricity in near-freezing weather.
Officials of the Hydro-Quebec utility blamed the blackouts on ice that accumulated on transmission lines during a snowstorm in northern Quebec. Officials said all but a handful of residents had their power restored by Tuesday afternoon.
The first blackout, on Monday, left 6 million Quebec residents, nearly half of them in Montreal, without electricity for up to 12 hours.
The blackout also interrupted a telecast of a Stanley Cup playoff between Montreal and Boston.
The outage blacked out the tiny Maine hamlet of Coburn Gore and left about 700 people in two Vermont communities without power.
Power was restored by 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, but a second failure at the same Arnaud substation in Sept-Iles, 500 miles northeast of Montreal, blacked out about 20% of Quebec households. Most had power restored by noon Tuesday.
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