Décarie Expressway reopens after heavy rain forced rush hour closure
Heavy rain closed the Décarie Expressway for over an hour Wednesday afternoon, as remnants of Hurricane Beryl are being felt across Montreal and southern Quebec.
According to Transports Québec, on Wednesday afternoon, Montreal highways that were closed by the rain included:
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Highway 13 North between Hickmore Street and Highway 520.
Stretches of the 520 Interchange.
Louis-André Bertrand, spokesperson for Quebec's Transport Ministry, said afternoon rush hour was very difficult because of "major congestion" on Highways 15, 40 and 13.
Transports Québec closed the Décarie with motorists stranded in their cars and in their trucks.
Its security vehicles were able to remove all stranded motorists by guiding them to the Jean-Talon exit.
"The pumps have been functioning at full capacity," said Bertrand, saying the highway could reopen once the rain dies down and the pumps have removed the accumulated water.
More than 4,000 Hydro-Québec customers in the Montreal and Montérégie regions were without power as of 6 p.m.
Heavy rain forced the closure of stretches of highways in Montreal on Wednesday afternoon. (Benjamin Shingler/CBC)
A spokesperson for the public utility says it voluntarily interrupted service for those customers at the request of provincial security officials due to the heavy rain, stressing that the outages are not due to equipment failure.
The Sûreté du Québec says it is monitoring the situation and that there's no "major collision" at the moment.
Bertrand advised motorists to postpone driving if possible or to leave their car downtown and use public transit instead.
He added that traffic was expected to continue into the evening.
WATCH: Funnel clouds and exploding sewers as Beryl remnants hit hard
Thumbnail courtesy of Benjamin Shingler/CBC.
The story was originally written by Hénia Ould-Hammou and Antoni Nerestant, with files from Shuyee Lee and Leta Polson, and published for CBC News.
