A powerful storm on Tuesday night has created widespread power outages across Manitoba, with more than 25,000 customers affected on Wednesday, with 17,000 being in Winnipeg, after high winds brought down trees and damaged hydro infrastructure.<\/p>\n
Manitoba Hydro says the combination of uprooted trees and broken branches has caused damage to power lines, poles and other equipment across the province, leading to what officials describe as a significant restoration effort.<\/p>\n
The utility says crews are currently assessing hundreds of downed lines to determine the full extent of the damage and restore service as quickly and safely as possible.<\/p>\n
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Peter Chura, media relations officer with Manitoba Hydro, says the scale of the damage means some customers should prepare for extended outages.<\/p>\n
\u201cCrews are assessing hundreds of downed lines and other damage, which will give us a clearer picture of when power will be restored. But due to the scale and widespread nature of damage, customers should prepare for extended outages, including overnight and into Thursday. In rural areas, flooding and highway closures may delay response,\u201d Chura said.<\/p>\n
Manitoba Hydro is also warning that additional storms expected later Wednesday could slow restoration efforts and cause further damage.<\/p>\n
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Safety remains a key concern for crews in the field.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe safety of Manitoba Hydro employees and customers is paramount. Crews cannot safely work when thunderstorms and lightning are present.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chura added that restoration efforts are ongoing despite difficult conditions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe appreciate the difficulty that being without electricity can create when dealing with flooding, and want our customers to know we are doing everything we can to get their service restored as safely and quickly as we can.\u201d<\/p>\n
Customers are being reminded to stay at least 10 metres away from any downed power lines or anything they are touching, and to report hazards immediately to 911.<\/p>\n
Manitoba Hydro says restoration timelines remain uncertain as crews continue to assess damage across the province.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A powerful storm on Tuesday night has created widespread power outages across Manitoba, with more than 25,000 customers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":728286,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194296],"tags":[49,48,22073],"class_list":["post-728285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=728285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728285\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/728286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=728285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=728285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=728285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}