SaskPower works overnight to restore power across province

SaskPowersays it does not yet know the cause of the outage that has left an estimated "tens of thousands" of people in Saskatchewanwithout electricity on Tuesday but does say its transmission system was damaged.

By 5:32 p.m. CT,SaskPowertweeted that it had already restored power to Regina, which is one of its priority areas.

By 6:30 p.m. CT,SaskPower'soutage map had shrunk from a large swath of the province down to a small section in the south-east. The map indicated that power was back on inEstevan.

JordanJackle, a spokesperson forSaskPower, said at a news conference Tuesday afternoon that hundreds of employees of the Crown utilityareworking to fix the problem.

Jackleconfirmedthe Boundary Dam,Shandand Poplar River power stations were all tripped. If the systems detect instability, it can cause them to trip, he said.

"The last I heard was that some of those couldbe back up very shortly here," he said. "Although they might be back up, we also have to ensure that we have the transmission infrastructure undamaged to the point that we can get that power from them as well."

Jacklewas unable to provide an estimated time of repair. Workers are still trying to find a cause.

"At this point we are essentially thanking people for their patience as we work to restore power," he said.

A tweet sent out at 2:50 p.m. indicates power has been restored to customers in the Estevanand surrounding rural areas.Wawota-arearesident Blair Wilson said his power went back on around 4 p.m.

A large area is impacted in regions just south of Prince Albert stretching east of Porcupine Plain and then down to theYorktonregion.

CT scanners were still up in Moose Jaw,Estevanand Swift Current.

SaskTel working to keep networks online

A spokesperson for SaskTel noted the network runs on power but they had taken steps to ensure the network doesn't go down.

"We do have backup batteries at locations, but of course, batteries only last so long," Darcee MacFarlane said. "We do have a number of sites that are impacted and currently on backup."

Depending on the site, backup batteries at core sites can last as long as eight hours where smaller sites can last as long as four to six hours.

MacFarlanesaid generators are being mobilized to ensure the core network and priority sites remain running. She said staff will work to ensure generators remain "gassed up" in the event of a prolonged outage.

The voice service and wireless network are still up and running, MacFarlanesaid.

"There would be priority in our core network to keep voice services going and to keep the wireless network going," she said. "There may be some smaller sites, if it's a prolonged outage, that we don't have enough generators for backup."

Enbridge monitoring situation

Enbridge is "closely monitoring the situation," which has impacted its mainline system, according to a statement sent to CBC News. There is no risk to public safety or the environment.

The outage caused temporary outages or reduced flow along the company's 1, 2a, 3, 4, 13 and 67 lines according to the statement

"Enbridge has offered any assistance it can provide to SaskPower," the statement read. "We have no timelines at the moment when operations will return to normal."

Classes cancelled

On Tuesday, Regina Public Schoolscancelled classesat 33 of its schools, including all of its high schools, except for Sheldon Williams Collegiate and Campbell Collegiate, which still have power.

Regina Catholic Schools sent home students at many of its schools as well, except for St. Francis School,EcoleSt. Elizabeth and St. Nicholas Schools, which still had power. Regina Catholic Schools tweeted all its schools will run as normal on Wednesday.

The outage has forced the University of Regina to cancel all classes today and this evening at its main campus, and the College Avenue campus.

HannahEiserman, a student at the university, noted today was supposed to be a big day for her.

"I have three final projects due today, and one of which is supposed to be handed in printed, and that's not going to happen, so that's a bit of an inconvenience," she said. "It's out of my control, there's not much I can do about it."

The Cornwall Centre mall in downtown Regina confirmed it would be shut down until power is restored.

MarcBeaudin, aSasktelemployee, said he and AaronAlmassywere waiting around for the power to return to the mall.

"We went with one of the mechanical engineers and checked out theHVACover atLorneStreet, because the batteries had to be on and that produces a lot of hydrogen,"Almassysaid. "We don't directly do any of theHVACwork, but we're involved with the architectural side of it whenever itneeds work."

Almassysaid it's refreshing to see infrastructure is working in the event of a major power outage. He noted people wouldn't be able to use their cell phones if their job wasn't done properly.

Beaudinsaid he was going to get his hair cut while he was waiting because he heard the razors were still working.

"[Time] is going by pretty fast actually,"Beaudinsaid.

In Moose Jaw, city hall remains open thanks to a generator, however, indoor rec facilities are closed.

"We know that the frost in the past number of days has had a pretty significant impact on our infrastructure out there,"Jacklesaid.

"It has an impact on power lines, causing them to break and droop and impact other equipment that they're attached to."

Dark chocolate

Meanwhile, one Reginachocolatieris spending the morning surrounded by large chocolateSantas.

"It's kind of creepy in here right now," said DavidLoblawfrom Chocolates by BernardCallibeaut. "It's kind of dark in here, and there are all these shadows of theseSantasall around my shop here."

Early in the outage,Loblawtweeted a picture with a massive chocolate Santa Claus, saying he would be "forced to start nibbling" if the power was out for much longer.

"I'm all by myself in here," he said. "I told my staff not to come in. I'm totally alone with this chocolate monster."

Stay away from power lines

SaskPowerwarned people to stay at least 10 metres away from any power lines sagging with frostand to not remove it themselves. The company also warned people against using a generator in an enclosed room like a garage or home.

Jacklesaid some of the assessment can be done by computer in Regina, but he said there's really no substitute to getting crews in the field to observe and examine equipment.

He said that anyone who has lost power should call the outage line at306-310-2220.

Jacklesaid this is key to helping the workers pinpoint the areas affected.