Manitoba Hydro responding to hundreds of outages, could see more

While Manitoba Hydro crews continue to work across the province to restore outages caused by this week’s stormy weather, some customers could be without power overnight, including some in the Lac du Bonnet area, Parkland region, and even small groups or individual customers in Winnipeg.

The utility is dealing with numerous fallen tree branches, washed-out roads, downed lines, broken poles and lightning-damaged equipment, after thunderstorms rolled across southern Manitoba earlier this week. As more rain and wind sweep through western areas of Manitoba and storm-weakened tree branches continue to fall on power lines, customers may experience more power outages throughout the evening and overnight.

As of Tuesday, June 30 at 5:00 p.m., more than 3,800 customers were without power across Manitoba, with close to 1,300 of those customers in Winnipeg — but this count has and will continue to fluctuate with the ongoing high winds.

“We have made significant restoration progress since last night; however, we have been getting more reports of outages and damages rolling in throughout the day,” said Scott Powell, Director of Corporate Communications and Marketing for Manitoba Hydro.

“As we continue with restoration work, we may also need to take emergency outages to large areas in order to safely complete repairs on damaged equipment.”

Estimated restoration times will also likely fluctuate, depending on weather, road conditions and damage. Heavy rainfall in the Parkland region has washed out roads, in some cases knocking down wood poles and completely cutting off road access to communities like Childs Lake, Benito, Minitonas and Swan River.

By tomorrow, crews may be able to access such communities by air to assess damage and make areas safe, but the utility will need road access for heavy equipment to make repairs and restore power.

“Our crews are working as quickly as possible to safely restore power and we’ve brought in extra staff to assist where possible, but the damage is significant — even if it only affects a small group of customers,” said Powell.

Manitoba Hydro crews also must rebuild a section of power line — including setting at least 10 new poles — that was severely damaged in a tornado near Rossburn earlier this week. Most customers in that outage were restored within a few hours thanks to an alternate line, however permanent repair work is ongoing.

Customers should continue reporting outages and damaged equipment online or by calling 1-888-624-9376 (1-888-MBHYDRO). Customers should also be prepared for a power outage at all times given continued stormy weather.

Learn how to be emergency ready

“And if people see a downed power line, treat it as live. Stay back at least 10 metres from the line and anything it touches, like puddles of water, and call 911 or your local emergency services,” said Powell.

For more information, please contact:

Scott Powell, Director of Corporate Communications and Marketing
204-299-8849
spowell@hydro.mb.ca