Bonnie Portelance & Peter L. Smith
Published online June 3, 2026, at www.pontiacjournal.com.
MRC PONTIAC — High winds that swept across the Pontiac Friday afternoon (May 29) left residents without power for much of the weekend, destroyed at least two barns in the Upper Pontiac and renewed concerns about the region’s vulnerability during extended outages.
The storm was part of a larger weather system that caused widespread damage across the Outaouais. Radio-Canada reported that more than 30,000 homes in the region were without power at the height of the outages Friday evening. By Sunday evening, nearly 2,000 Hydro-Québec customers in the Outaouais were still waiting for service to be restored.
Hydro-Québec sent 90 crews into the field in the region on Saturday, with workers from the Bas-Saint-Laurent and Saguenay regions brought in to support local crews. The utility also used specialized contractors and said restoration work was expected to continue Sunday because many outages were in wooded and hard-to-reach areas.
The Pontiac remained the hardest-hit area Sunday, with just over 1,200 homes still without power, according to Radio-Canada. In Mansfield-et-Pontefract, where more than 1,000 customers had been without power since Friday, service had been restored for most residents by Sunday, though 11 Hydro-Québec customers remained without electricity. Some residents were not expected to have service restored until 2 pm Monday.
Sheenboro and Waltham both regained power after 8 pm on Sunday evening.
The high winds destroyed two barns in the Upper Pontiac. In Sheenboro, John Brennan lost a barn, while in L’Isle-aux-Allumettes, Mike Carroll and Hollie Allard Carroll lost a 70-by-30-foot barn on chemin de la Culbute that they had been repairing. A small greenhouse operated by Allard Carroll across the road sustained minor wind damage.
Allard Carroll shared phone video showing the barn collapsing in on itself. Family and friends arrived Saturday morning to help with the cleanup. Neither farm had insurance on the damaged barns.
Several roads were affected by downed trees, forcing detours while Hydro-Québec crews worked to restore service. Some residents said restoration estimates changed repeatedly as crews dealt with widespread storm damage. According to the Hydro-Québec app, the utility was prioritizing outages affecting emergency and critical services.
The outages again raised safety concerns in rural areas. With many Bell landlines now operating through fibre-optic systems, phones may not work during outages unless homes have backup power. Cell service also remains poor in many parts of the Pontiac, leaving some residents with limited ways to call for help.
The issue is especially serious for seniors, people with health concerns and residents who cannot afford generators. In the Upper Pontiac, residents had access to St. Joseph Centre for Families and Seniors, which has a generator. Fundraising is also ongoing for a generator in Chapeau that would serve Harrington Community Centre Hall and the Upper Pontiac Sports Complex. The Municipality of Waltham opened its municipal hall to residents during the outage.
In Mansfield, Mayor Sandra Armstrong said Mansfield Station stayed open for gas and coffee, while both grocery stores and J & A Bowers Restaurant were also open to serve residents. Radio-Canada reported that supplies at Mansfield Station were beginning to run low by Saturday as residents turned to the business during the outage.
Despite the disruption, the Fort-Coulonge Golden Age Club held its annual cipaille supper Saturday night. Volunteers cooked the meal off-site after the outage darkened the hall, helping serve nearly 100 residents and deliver 25 takeout meals to local seniors. The supper had already been rescheduled once because of spring flooding.
Hydro-Québec has said it is planning major infrastructure expansions across the province, with multi-billion-dollar investments targeting 8 to 9 gigawatts of new generating capacity by 2035. Locally, the storm added to ongoing concerns about the reliability of the Pontiac’s electrical system and the vulnerability of rural communities during long outages.
