MONTREAL—Nearly 675,000 customers are still without power in Quebec this morning after Wednesday’s vicious ice storm, which downed tree branches and hydro lines and left one man dead.

Hydro−Québec says its crews restored power to 200,000 clients overnight, and it hopes to more than double that number by day’s end.

Wednesday’s freezing rain sent ice−covered tree branches crashing onto power lines, streets and cars across swaths of southern Quebec, especially around Montreal and the Montérégie region to its south.

Energy Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon called the situation a crisis.

Provincial police say a man in his 60s died yesterday morning when he was crushed by a tree branch while attempting to cut down branches on his property in Les Coteaux, southwest of Montreal.

Environment Canada says between 20 mm and 25 mm of ice accumulated on trees and buildings on Wednesday in the Montreal area.