In Winnipeg, 1,400 wait for lights to come back on

The hundreds of Winnipeggers still without power Thursday salvaged food and powered up at community centres to help get through the second day without electricity even as Manitoba Hydro promised power would be restored by the end of the day.

West End resident River Woods and their wife Raine Hamilton have been without power since a massive storm turned off the lights Tuesday night. They strapped on headlights to make dinner by candlelight Wednesday night.

“The house is dark, we’ve had a hard time cooking anything, we don’t want to open the fridge because we don’t want all of our food to go bad, although at 40 hours, at this point, we’re afraid of our food going bad,” Woods told the Free Press Thursday.

Manitoba Hydro said 1,400 customers were still without power as of late Thursday afternoon. Its update said repair crews were prioritizing customers who had been off the grid the longest. Some planned outages occurred throughout the day as part of the restoration process, and outages continued to be reported.

Employees have been working around the clock since torrential rain, massive hail and at least two tornadoes hit Manitoba Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, knocking out power for an estimated 25,000 people.

Houses on Woods’s street remained without power. While they have been able to get by, Woods worries about their neighbours, some of whom are low-income and haven’t had hot water. Their budgets can’t take the hit if food is spoiled.

“Especially given the socioeconomic level that so many people in the West End are living at, I’m really concerned for my neighbours, and I’m hoping that that they’re all right,” Woods said.

In East Kildonan, Cindy Perrett’s home has been dark since early Wednesday. While some neighbours have bought generators, she’s got a different strategy.

“I’m going to pull out all my stuff and take it over to my parents place in hoping to save some very expensive groceries,” she said with a laugh.

She expressed concern for her neighbours, but said the outage has brought small, meaningful acts of connection.

“This morning, my neighbour went out to get coffee, and then he’s like, ‘Hey, I got you one too.’ Super kind, the little things,” she said.

Hydro spokesman Peter Chura said the timeline to restore power could change if stormy weather persists.

“We still are aiming to have outages restored by the end of the day today. That said, if there are further complications, like weather, or more damage, if there are weakened trees that fall and take out more power lines or complicate the restoration, that could delay some.”

Some repairs couldn’t be done Wednesday night because lightning made it unsafe for crews to work, and wind brought down more trees, creating more isolated outages, said Chura.

Coun. Cindy Gilroy, whose ward includes homes that remained without power Thursday, noted several community centres, including in her ward, were available for people to connect to power outlets and feel comfortable in an air-conditioned setting.

She advised residents that reached out to her to contact their MLA, noting Hydro is a provincial Crown corporation.

“In terms of questions about food spoilage, and stuff like that, there might be resources out there, but I, as a city councillor … I wouldn’t have necessarily those resources at hand,” she said.

Several people across Winnipeg said they appreciated Manitoba Hydro and public works repair crews, but had hoped to receive more updates from the utility, city and province.

“The best resource that I’ve been able to utilize was our neighbourhood Facebook group … it’s the communication, I feel, that’s been lacking,” said Jess Kull, who has been charging his phone at work and ordering take-out meals while he waits for his power in the West End to come back.

Chura said while Hydro is working to keep customers informed, outdated contact information has posed a challenge.

“It is coming back from the field that we’re having some challenges contacting some customers, especially in rural areas, as well,” he said.

Mayor Scott Gillingham said 311’s backlog of calls has been largely cleared. A city spokesperson said average wait times were one minute and 15 seconds as of Thursday afternoon.

“I think most of the reports related to the storm have been submitted to 311 … Obviously, more will trickle in,” Gillingham said.

Public Works chair Coun. Janice Lukes said requests for service are being triaged based on safety. Some work, such as gravel road repairs, will have to wait until the ground dries.

—with files from Joyanne Pursaga

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca

Malak Abas
Reporter

Malak Abas is a city reporter at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg’s North End, she led the campus paper at the University of Manitoba before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Malak.

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