As one person put it, it's been a Godzilla of a storm.
A big snow fall whipped by strong winds pounded southern Quebec since Tuesday afternoon leading to tons of accidents, including a multi-vehicle accident on the 10 west near Magog involving roughly 50 vehicles, but luckily there were no serious injuries.
There was an 8-car pileup on the 40 near Kirkland, as well as a crash involving three trucks that slammed into each other and caught fire on Highway 20 near St. Zotique, not far from the Ontario border.
Transport Quebec reported many road closures, including Highway 20 either to go to Ontario or from Ontario to Montreal.
A crash in Ontario, however, proved deadly.
One person died following an afternoon multi-vehicle crash on Highway 401 just outside of Kingston with the poor weather being blamed for the tragedy.
Hospital officials said they treated 29 people for various injuries.
134 patients, all first responders, were decontaminated after one of the vehicles involved, a tanker truck, spilled a hazardous chemical.
The chemical was subsequently identified as hydrofluoric acid.
"It's a highly corrosive chemical, which can cause really bad chemical burns. People became exposed to this that were near the crash site or on the crash site that included first responders. many of these people had to be treated nearby by being decontaminated", said Bill Kingston, editor of the Brockville Newswatch.
Montrealers did what they could to cope with Mother Nature's latest blast of winter, coming just a week before the official arrival of spring.
"We're seeing this monster snowfall and, hey, it's too much, just wearing us down", said Environment Canada senior climatologist Dave Phillips in an interview with CJAD 800 News.
"It was kinda snowing sideways... so, you would have your hood up, your hat on, but it wouldn't matter, it would just like hit you in the face and neck. My face was just like frozen over by the time I got inside", said one woman CJAD 800 News spoke with.
The city of Montreal deployed a thousand pieces of equipment and as many workers to plow the snow.
"For sure, we're at full capacity", said city spokesman Phillipe Sabourin in an interveiw with CJAD 800.
"At the same time, we will have abrasives to make sure the conditions of roads will be safe enough", added Sabourin.
The big storm triggered a slew of closures for Wednedsday, (full list below), including school cancellations.
Among other things, the English Montreal school board and the Lester B. Pearson school board both closed schools, and adult centers as well as their offices as a result of the storm..
"It's the first time we've closed schools for snow in 9 years. So, we take these decisions very seriously. Normally, we find a way, the buses get out on the road, but it's been assesed, we've spoken to other boards and we feel this is in the best interest of everyone in the situation", said EMSB spokesman Michael Cohen, who spoke with CJAD 800 News.
"Based on the reports on Environment Canada's website, that the high winds are gonna continue through the night, and through the morning, our buses have to hit the road before 5:30, so it's important that we make that call on a timely basis", said Lester B. Pearson chairperson Suanne Stein Day, also interviewed by CJAD 800.
City buses reported delays, in some cases the buses had diffculty getting up steep roads.
The Agence Metropolitain de Montreal, which runs commuter trains, said crews would be on the job overnight to clear the tracks for the morning commute.
Trudeau airport reported scores of delays as well as cancellations.
Car assistance service CAA Quebec dealt with a deluge of calls.
Delays in the Montreal area ranged from 45 minutes to an hour, maybe more, according to spokesperson Annie Gauthier.
"The situation will get better during the night and tomorrow morning for Montreal. The storm is affecting the delay right now", she added.
Sherbrooke and the Quebec City region remained the hardest hit areas from the powerful storm, which was reflected in power outages.
There were about 60,000 Hydro Quebec customers without power just before midnight, most in the Quebec City area.
In Montreal, the number of power failures was negligible, just over 30 clients in the dark.
The figure for the Monteregie was higher at 340.
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Closures March 15, 2017 (updated 9 a.m.)
The following school boards have closed all schools, adult centres, offices and daycares where available:
The following universities and CEGEPs have cancelled classes:
The following schools have cancelled classes:
The following daycares are closed:
The following community and seniors centres are closed, with no programs running: