Powerful winds rip apart trees, smashing cars and blocking roads in Montreal

A powerful storm that descended onMontreal,downing trees and blocking roads,has left thousands without power and many with damaged homes and cars.

Notre-Dame-de-Grceand Saint-Henriwere among the hardest hit areas, but there were reports of damage on the West Island and inAhuntsic-Cartierville.

• The latest developments on the storm and cleanup efforts here

A marquee in the Fairview Mall parking lot was blown over by the wind, lightly injuring three people, trees fell in Ahuntsicand so did metal pole on Henri-Bourassa Boulevard near Highway 13 North.

AmlieBertrandof Environment Canada said it's unlikely Montreal was hit by a tornado. There were, however, windsupwards of 110 kilometres an hour.

I've never seen such a wind-force. The [trees]were parallel to the ground.- Wendy Thomas, NDG resident

Bertrandsaid the storm was likelya microburst, whichshe said despite its nameis no less intense than a tornado.

Amicroburstis a column of sinking air that can come down at speeds over 100 kilometres per hour. The damage it leaves behind is recognizable because it often appears to come from one direction.

Residents in NDGreported streets blocked by large trees that havesnapped in two.

Wendy Thomas, who lives in NDG, said the weather changed suddenly around 3:30 p.m. when heavy rains gave way to violent winds that were bending trees in half.

"I've never seen such a wind-force. The [trees]were parallel to the ground," Thomas said.

She heard a loud crackand "raced to the front of the house," to find large branches had fallen onto the street and on cars on the corner of Hampton and Notre-Dame-de-Grceavenues.

Russell Copeman, borough mayor forCte-des-NeigesNotre-Dame-de-Grace, said the cleanup has started in the borough and that it could lasta few days.

In a news conference withdeputy director of theMontrealfire department Richard Liebmann, Copemansaid Liebmann's "presence here would seem to indicate that this neighbourhood was one of the worse affected on the island of Montreal."

"I've never seen an electrical pole that sheered off at six-feet in this community, so it's a major incident," the mayor said.

Copemanadded that crews were focused on making sure everyone was OK, and on clearing Monkland Avenue and making it accessible.

Liebmannsaid all the power in the area delineated by Coronation and Girouardstreetsbetween Sherbrooke Street andCte Saint Luc Road had been turned off for safety reasons.

"Always consider downed wires as live wires," he said. "If you see a line down, don't go anywhere near it, don't hesitate to call 911 and we'll come check it out if we're not already aware of it."

Though the southwest of the city is the most damaged, there was some reported to the north in Ahuntsic.

Serge Abergel, spokesperson for Hydro-Qubec, said 63,000 customers are without powerin Montreal, and 115,000 are without power across the province.

As of 10 p.m. Tuesday, its website said there were still 48,700 outages in the city and 73,000 across Quebec.

"It's knocked down wires, causing power outages in certain areas," Abergel said.

Hydro-Qubeclater updated its website, saying the main regions other than Montrealaffected by outages are the Laurentions and the Richelieuregions.

"Thestormfront is currently crossing the province from west to east," the statement said, adding that 212 of its crews were working on restoring power in those areas.

"Strong winds are expected in its wake, which will likely cause more outages."

Earlier Tuesday, the weather agency issued a severe thunderstorm watch for Montreal and some of the surrounding areas, including places in theLanaudireregion, Laurentians and Eastern Townships.

Work crews were already in the streets of Saint-Henri, clearing trees off the roads.

The weather agency is advisingpeople to take cover immediatelyif threatening weather approaches, adding that "severe thunderstorms can produce tornadoes."

Send CBC Montreal your photos, videos and testimonies of the storm. Contact us at webquebec@cbc.ca or through our Facebook page.