Hydro Québec, the provincially owned utility, says about 2,800 people were without power Thursday afternoon.

Ariane Connor, a spokesperson for Hydro Québec, said a transmission station in the La Vérendrye region of the Laurentians had a mechanical failure about 4 p.m., resulting in about 100,000 outages in and around Montreal.

By 5 p.m., however, most had seen their power restored, Connor said, except for about 2,800 on the Island of Montreal.

She said she expected power to be restored shortly.