24News.ca

Thousands are in the dark in parts of Quebec, eastern Ontario and southern New Brunswick after a messy mix of rain, snow and strong winds caused power outages Thursday.

Hydro-Quebec reported that 250,000 customers were without power in several regions across Quebec as of 8 a.m. The utility said it has sent out crews to “restore service as quickly as possible.”

Hydro-One, which services most of rural Ontario, said Thursday morning that it was working to restore power to 23,300 customers in eastern Ontario, while parts of southern New Brunswick had more than 12,000 customers without electricity. Most of the power outages in New Brunswick were in the Frederiction and Chipman areas.

The bulk of the blackouts are in southwest Quebec, including nearly 73,000 in the Laurentians, a region north of Montreal.

Hydro-Quebec said most customers in the Laurentides and Lanaudiere regions should have their power restored by early Thursday evening.

Restoration times for those experiencing blackouts in rural Ontario range from midday to 10 p.m. Thursday.

Freezing rain brought down trees and branches across Quebec starting on Wednesday, resulting in the late-evening and early-morning outages.

The rain is expected to be lighter in parts of Quebec on Thursday, but it could turn to snow in the evening as colder air moves in.

Periods of rain in Fredericton are expected to end late Thursday afternoon.

Forecasters were predicting ice pellets and snowfall of 10-35 centimetres across the Great Lakes region by Thursday afternoon.

With files from The Canadian Press and CTV Barrie