Hydro calls in extra help after strong weekend winds blow out power across southern Manitoba

Hundreds of people are without power after strong winds blew through southern Manitoba on Saturday and into Sunday.

Environment Canada meteorologist Shannon Moodie says southwestern Manitoba experienced sustained winds between 60 to 70 kilometres per hour, with wind gusts between 90 to 100 kilometres per hour.

"In Brandon, they hit a maximum wind gust of 94 kilometres per hour, Deerwood 93 kilometres per hour, and Pilot Mound [had a] maximum wind gust of 91 kilometeres per hour," she told CBC News on Sunday.

She says an Alberta clipper a low pressure system that forms in Alberta caused the high winds.

"We often see systems like this in the shoulder season, so in fall and spring we'll see these low pressure systems that move quite quickly, that bring significant winds to parts of the Prairies."

A wind warning was in effect for Manitoba's southwestern corner for much of Saturday, but the warning began to be lifted in affected areas later in the evening.

Moodie says the system has now moved into Ontario, but that doesn't mean the winds are entirely gone.

"It's still a wee bit gusty, but everything will be improving [as the day progresses]."

'Good progress' in restoring power

Manitoba Hydro's power outage map, which was down for much of Saturday and into Sunday due to scheduled maintenance, is back online. It shows dozens of power outages scattered across southern Manitoba as of mid-Sunday, affecting hundreds of people.

There were 2,900 customers without power across the province on Saturday night around 8:30 p.m., including 1,200 in Brandon, but the situation has become less clear Sunday, Manitoba Hydro spokesperson Peter Chura told CBC News.

"Good progress was made repairing the outages from yesterday but, with the high winds continuing through the night, more calls are coming in from customers this morning," he said in a Sunday email.

Hydro is working to assess the total number of outages and affected customers, and additional staff are helping out as the outages are scattered across southern Manitoba, he said.

In a statement issued later Sunday, Hydro said the high number of calls, along withthelarge number of trees and branches that crews have to clear, means they may not be able to restore service to all affected customers by the end of the day, meaning some people should prepare for extended outages.

"Manitoba Hydro works first to repair any downed power lines that could pose a public safety risk," the utility's statement reads in part. "Crews then move on to repairs that will re-energize the largest blocks of customers first, before turning their attention to outages affecting smaller groups or individual customers."

Several outages on Saturday were caused by trees falling on power lines, damage to Hydro polesand downed or sparking power lines, Chura said.

He says anyone who sees downed power lines should treat them as energized and should stay at least 10 metres away from them and call 911.

'Rare thing to see'

Justin Oertel, lead forecaster with the Brandon-based Weather Centre of Manitoba, says he was on a hike in Riding Mountain National Park when the wind speeds started to pick up.

"When the wind gusts would get [to the] about 100 kilometreper hour mark, we'd have the rocks flying through the air and dust flying, and just lots of leaves raining down from the trees. It was just really insane, I would say," he told CBC in a Saturday phone interview.

The winds knocked down multiple trees in Brandon, including some very large ones, Oertel said.

"We can get wind gusts, you know, 60, 70 kilometres per hour or maybe even 80, but when we're getting towards 100, 110 kilometres an hour, it's a fairly rare thing to see."