Stormy Saskatoon night leads to power outages, sparks fires

Crews are working to resolve power outages and clean up debris after a significant overnight storm swept through Saskatoon overnight.

Downed power lines, city-wide outages and storm-sparked fires were reported in Saskatoon after the stormy night. Outage-causing thunderstorms began around 11 p.m. and ended a couple of hours later, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) said.

Wind gusts as strong as 96 km/h were recorded overnight in the city, according to Global News meteorologist Peter Quinlan.

The strong gusts and thunderstorms knocked out power to approximately one-third of Saskatoon Light & Power customers overnight on Wednesday, the utility said.

Around seven of its crews are working to restore power and have done so for some customers.

Restoring electricity for affected customers is the “top priority” for the utility provider, it said.

Downtown is not seeing as many outages as residential neighbourhoods, Saskatoon Light & Power director, Trevor Bell told reporters at a news conference Thursday morning.

“A few areas on the east side, Varsity View area, Exhibition, (The) Grounds, Avalon, some of those neighbourhoods were impacted as well,” he said, adding, “it seemed to hit the west side harder.”

Get breaking National news

Get breaking Canada news delivered to your inbox as it happens so you won’t miss a trending story.

“I can’t tell you when the last house will be restored. I know that we’re going to be busy all day long working on it.”

As of Thursday morning, 10 per cent of customers across the city are still being affected, Bell estimated.

How long it will take to end the outages will partly depend on the severity of the storm-related damages, the energy provider wrote in its release — adding residents should avoid and report any downed power lines.

Some traffic lights were said to be affected by the outage, and the City of Saskatoon is reminding residents that powerless intersections should be treated as a four-way stop. Road signs were also blown by the wind, and some were knocked down. Others are facing the wrong direction, the city said in a news release.

Debris, including tree branches, are also being reported on Saskatoon’s roads and removed by city crews, it added.

Saskatoon’s fire department “responded to multiple fires caused by downed lines,” the city said.

Within 90 minutes of the storm, fire crews responded to 34 thunderstorm-related calls, it continued, adding no injuries were reported at any of those scenes.