Quebecers still have vivid memories of 1998 ice storm
MONTREAL — The freezing drizzle had already been falling for four days when Normand Chaput left his home in St-Hyacinthe, Que., on Jan. 9, 1998.
Throughout the inclement weather, the Hydro-Quebec line worker had begun each day counting how many utility poles had fallen the previous night.
That morning, not a single one was still standing.
“There was nothing left,” Chaput said in a phone interview. “All the poles were down, everything was down.”