Canada

Hydro Quebec says it has restored power to 90 per cent of its customers who lost electricity after a powerful storm last week.

The lights went out for about 110,000 customers in the Laurentians, the Lanaudiere region north of Montreal and the Outaouais region of western Quebec when a storm dumped about 50 centimetres of snow in some areas on Friday.

As of 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Hydro Quebec said about 7,000 customers were still without power.

The utility said its crews would continue to work through the evening and hoped to restore electricity to all customers by Wednesday.

More than 800 Hydro Quebec employees were working Christmas Day to restore service.

Hydro-Quebec spokeswoman Isabelle Nuckle said the weight of the snow caused several trees to sag onto power lines.

She said the work took longer than expected because many utility poles carrying the power lines need to be replaced.