Hydro scrambling to restore power to remaining 4,500 customers after storm; some outages will continue into Saturday

Power outages could stretch into a third day for some Manitobans — mainly in and around Winnipeg — while crews continued to repair widespread damage caused by powerful thunderstorms.

About 4,500 Manitoba Hydro customers were still without electricity at 2:30 p.m. Friday, after more than 30,000 lost power while powerful winds brought down trees and power lines Wednesday night and early Thursday.

The Crown corporation said it is aiming to have all outages with greater numbers of customers restored by Friday night, but some customers may remain without power into Saturday.

“The challenge is just the sheer scale of this thing — hundreds of different outages spread across a large part of the city,” Hydro spokesman Peter Chura said. “Just getting to all of them in a timely fashion is very difficult.”

About 350 outages remained as of Friday afternoon, down from almost 600 on Thursday morning. Crews from other parts of Manitoba were sent to Winnipeg to join the effort.

Employees cannot repair some damaged power lines, poles or other equipment until large trees are safely removed.

“We don’t guarantee there will never be a power outage. No utility in the world can promise that,” Chura said. “What we can do is make every effort to get the power back on safely as quickly as possible, so that’s what we’re focusing on.”

Hydro pulled estimated restoration times from its online outage map and stopped sending notifications to affected customers. Smaller outages were too numerous and widespread to provide accurate restoration times, the corporation said.

“Due to the widespread nature of the outages, the outage map just wasn’t able to keep up with the amount of information coming in,” Chura said. “It was misleading for customers, so we thought it would be best, for the time being, to remove the estimated restoration times.”

Some customers were incorrectly informed an outage was resolved. That’s why notifications were paused, Chura said.

Windsor Park resident Brenda Gervais said she had been filled with “lots of worry” since losing electricity Wednesday night.

The senior made multiple trips to a nearby store, which had power, to buy blocks of ice that she put in her fridges and freezers to prevent food from spoiling.

She kept windows and doors closed, and blinds drawn during the day to try to prevent her two-storey home’s internal temperature from rising to uncomfortable levels.

“We’re in a heat wave and we have no air conditioning,” Gervais said. “The basement is cool-ish. The main floor is hot and upstairs is unbearable.”

“We’re in a heat wave and we have no air conditioning.”

Outside air temperatures were close to 30 C on Thursday and Friday, with direct sunshine.

Gervais was frustrated after calling Hydro to seek an estimated restoration time Friday morning. She said an employee told her that power was restored at her home, which wasn’t the case.

Gervais used an outlet in her car to charge her cellphone. Her landline doesn’t work during outages because it requires a powered modem since the switch from copper wires to fibre optic cables, she said.

She used candles to illuminate rooms after nightfall. Food that would likely spoil the fastest was eaten first.

Some businesses went 40 hours and counting without electricity, hurting sales or bookings.

Miranda Eismendi, who owns Studio M Aesthetics at 3224 Roblin Blvd. in Charleswood, said the power went out there late Wednesday night. Appointments with most clients had to be rescheduled.

Eismendi said she was able to do some scheduled eyelash treatments that do not require machines. She worked in a room with a window that let natural light in.

The studio’s payment system wasn’t working, meaning clients had to pay with cash or via electronic transfers.

“I know they’re doing the best they can to restore the power. I’m really hoping it is restored soon,” Eismendi said. “Fingers crossed I don’t have to reschedule any more clients.”

She said she received an automatic phone call around noon that said power was restored, but the outage continued into Friday afternoon.

Chura acknowledged extended power outages can be difficult for customers. He said people with spoiled food should contact their home insurance provider.

If an electrical service mast attached to a home was damaged, it must be repaired by a licensed electrician before power can be safely restored, Hydro said.

The utility asked people to keep a safe distance while crews restore power in neighbourhoods. Some short, localized outages may be necessary while employees complete repairs.

People who encounter a downed power line should stay at least 10 metres away and call 911 to report it, Hydro said.

Environment and Climate Change Canada said wind gusts of 133 km/h in Brandon, 113 km/h in Souris and 91 km/h in Winnipeg were recorded during the storms.

More than 2,900 lightning strikes were recorded within 50 kilometres of Winnipeg.

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca