Southern Manitoba was hit with an early major storm as a Colorado low moved into the area on Thursday, October 10, 2019.
Downed trees, branches and power lines played havoc with city streets. Multiple power outages knocked out power to not only homes and businesses but also to traffic lights.
Police say that although they have responded to and are directing traffic at several intersections several others across the city have no operational signals. In those
The city is advising Winnipeggers to avoid all non-essential travel inside the city.
Winnipeg Transit is experiencing delays due to the weather and road conditions.
As of 1:00 pm Friday, October 11, 2019, Manitoba Hydro was dealing with 610 outages affecting more than 27,000 customers within the city of Winnipeg and more than 1866 outages across the province.
“As of this morning we are no longer able to provide estimated times for restoration (ETRs) on our outages due to the extremely high volume of calls we are receiving and the continuing deterioration of the weather and roads,” said Scott Powell, Director of Corporate Communications for Manitoba Hydro. “We understand the difficulty this poses for our customers, and I want them to know our people are doing everything they can to get power back on to affected areas as safely and quickly as possible.”
Hydro is also warning Manitobans to say away from downed power lines. They say that even though it is down it may still be live.
“If you see a line on the ground, just assume it is still live. Stay away from it, keep others away from it and call 911 immediately,” said Powell.
Environment and Climate Change Canada has issued a Winter Storm Warning for Winnipeg and most of Southern Manitoba.
Outside the city as much as 50 cm more could fall before the storm is over. Inside Winnipeg the snowfall amounts are predicted to be 10 – 25 cm by Saturday.
Winds are expected to gust as high a 80 km/h throughout the storm area.
“Travelling will become difficult if not impossible as the day wears on, with heavy, accumulating snow, strong winds and temperatures near zero resulting in treacherous conditions,” said Environment Canada.
The Trans-Canada Highway between Winnipeg and Brandon was closed Friday morning as visibility and road condition worsened. Several other highways west and south of Winnipeg were also closed.
Drivers are advised to visit the Manitoba 511 website before venturing out on the highways.
LINK | Manitoba 511
For those who were hoping to travel by air this weekend you may want to contact your air carrier before heading to the airport. Richardson International Airport is reporting some flight cancellations and delays due to the storm.
© News4.ca 2020
