More power outages possible

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This article was published 03/10/2023 (923 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba Hydro is warning any more high winds and rain could cause further power outages on Wednesday after thunderstorms battered much of southern Manitoba on Tuesday.

About 4,500 customers were without electricity at the peak of largely weather-induced power outages on Tuesday morning, Hydro spokesman Bruce Owen said, with about 310 people without power in the late afternoon.

The most significant outages were in Winnipeg and the Selkirk area, Owen said.

“One in Winnipeg — the Tyndall Park area — we believe was caused by a lightning strike, and the other major one was in Selkirk. That was a downed line,” Owen said, adding there was a smaller lightning-caused outage in the Stony Mountain area.

Virden and Portage la Prairie also saw outages, as did parts of the Interlake, as well as Victoria Beach.

“Most of these outages were related to the storm that rolled through,” Owen said.

He said smaller outages Tuesday afternoon, which he expected to likely continue into Wednesday, were being caused by infrastructure, including power lines and poles, weakened in the storm.

“Anything that was weakened by the storm earlier (Tuesday) might decide to break (Wednesday), if there’s any wind or any more rain or a tree branch decides to fall,” Owen said.

“There’s potentially weak parts in the system all through that area of not only Winnipeg, but the Interlake, the east beaches (of Lake Winnipeg) — anywhere from Virden to Steinbach.”

The spokesman said Manitoba Hydro has been receiving reports of damaged lines and poles.

“People who are out and about, and familiar with poles in the back lane, and they look up and if they hear crackling or see smoking — that’s not good,” he said. “You have to call us right away.”

Owen added the power utility also needs people to report sagging or downed power lines, but warned people to stay far away.

Electrical and natural gas emergencies can be reported to Manitoba Hydro at 204-480-5900 or 1-888-624-9376.

Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure warned high winds expected to develop Tuesday evening and continue into afternoon could cause rising water levels on south basin of Lake Manitoba, as well as on shorelines near Gimli on the west and Victoria Beach on the east side of Lake Winnipeg.

The province said northwest winds with gusts up to 60 km/h could raise water levels by as much as five feet.

Environment and Climate Change Canada issued a severe thunderstorm watch for Winnipeg on Tuesday morning, with warnings and watches also issued elsewhere throughout southeastern Manitoba.

The weather agency said conditions were favourable for the line of severe thunderstorms through Tuesday morning that battered the southern parts of the province, stemming from a low-pressure system that moved north from North Dakota.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca