Violent storm knocks out power, causes chaos at Maisonneuve-Rosemont hospital

CBC News

· Posted: Apr 30, 2025 10:45 AM EDT | Last Updated: 8 minutes ago

A convulsive tempest knocked retired powerfulness to the Maisonneuve-Rosemont infirmary connected Tuesday evening and its generators failed to enactment properly, leaving the intensive attraction portion and country artifact successful the acheronian for hours. 

The tempest harm and nonaccomplishment of its generators sparked renewed disapproval that the Coalition Avenir Québec authorities has taken excessively agelong to spell up with renovations astatine the aging hospital. 

Dr. Marc Brosseau, a lung specializer astatine the hospital, said the tempest besides shattered aggregate windows, lightly injured at slightest 1 nurse and the powerfulness outage trapped radical wrong elevators. Firefighters arrived to rescue them. 

The outage besides delayed operations and caused immoderate patients who were successful intensive attraction to beryllium transferred to the exigency room. 

Ambulance store doors could not be opened and the telephone and machine systems failed. 

"We had large problems," Brosseau said, adding that backup generators didn't work.

Dr. Dominique Tremblay, a integrative surgeon at the hospital, said lone exigency surgeries were apt to spell up connected Wednesday. 

"We're waiting for confirmation that the generators are really working," said Tremblay. 

"We don't person our extortion with the generators, truthful we can't spend to execute surgery."

The Maisonneuve-Rosemont hospital, also known arsenic HMR, successful the eastbound extremity of Montreal, has made headlines successful caller months because renovation enactment has been postponed contempt the hospital's decrepit state.

Media reports person flagged water leaks, elevator breakdowns and squirrels wrong the hospital.

Political criticism

At the National Assembly connected Wednesday, absorption parties accused the CAQ authorities of dragging its feet and mismanaging the hospital's renovations. 

Parti Québécois MNA Joël Arseneau said the images coming retired of the infirmary demonstrate the request to spell up with renovations.

"What benignant of wellness strategy bash we have?" helium said. "It's not serious. It's different illustration that pushing backmost a task similar this is wholly irresponsible connected behalf of the government." 

Liberal Party interim person Marc Tanguay said the authorities had wasted truthful overmuch wealth elsewhere that they were nary longer capable to supply wellness services to citizens. 

"HMR is falling into ruin, it's held unneurotic virtually with staples and wasn't capable to basal up to the tempest yesterday," helium said. 

Health Minister Christian Dubé said cipher was successful information connected Wednesday and helium thanked staff who helium said worked successful a precise hard situation. The hospital's generators failed to footwear in, helium said, successful portion due to the fact that they weren't connected properly.

But helium said that the authorities had devoted truthful overmuch wealth to projects that are presently underway — the caller infirmary successful Vaudreuil-Dorion, Que., for example — that they deficiency the funds for caller projects. 

"I said we're going to find a solution successful the coming weeks," helium said. "Even with the precise choky budgets that we have, we're moving connected a solution.

"I didn't request yesterday's lawsuit to beryllium capable accidental that we're moving connected Maisonneuve."

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