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Power is out for tens of thousands of people in southern Manitoba, including parts of Winnipeg, after a severe storm moved through the region, with flooding and potential tornadoes also reported.
Tuesday night’s system was the latest to make its way through the province, with heavy rain, high winds and hail reported by Environment Canada.
As of 7 a.m. Wednesday, Manitoba Hydro reported that 19,600 homes in Winnipeg had no power due to the storm system. Across the province, the Crown corporation said there were 900 outages and more than 34,000 customers affected.
The system developed over the Red River Valley and caused “chaos,” Environment Canada meteorologist Dan Fulton said.
Torrential rainfall, with amounts of more than 250 millimetres, was reported in the Stonewall, Man., area by 3 a.m., resulting in major flooding. Another 120 mm was reported in Woodlands, while the Forks weather station in Winnipeg reported 117 mm. More than 50 mm of rain fell in other communities, with numerous reports of flooding.
Tennis ball-sized hail was also reported in Winnipeg, Sanford and Otterburne, with similar sizes reported in other parts of the province’s south.
Winds surpassed 100 kilometres per hour in several communities, with Dand and Deloraine reporting gusts of 130 km/h. Winnipeg reported gusts of up to 94 km/h.
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There were also reports of a tornado in the Ste. Anne and St. Malo area, south of Winnipeg, though Environment Canada has not made an official confirmation. Fulton said there were also “numerous” reports of funnel clouds through an “awful lot” of the Red River Valley.
“I think this is going to be a case of, we probably won’t know the final total for some days. It’s going to have to be a lot of investigation going into trying to figure out exactly what happened out there,” Fulton said.
The City of Winnipeg says it could take time to respond to everyone in need of assistance.
“We know definitely that many residents across the city were impacted by the storm and may be experiencing flooding, whether it’s in homes, businesses, and additionally, damage to property, downed trees, power outages,” said Mike Olczyk, emergency management co-ordinator for the city. “City staff have been responding to calls, reports and issues…. It may take us some time, but city staff are definitely working hard to get to all incidents.”
The city said as of 9 a.m., its 311 line has received storm-related calls, including 137 for downed trees and debris and 122 for raw sewage from sewer backups.
Emergency crews have also seen a number of calls, with 851 received by 911 between 6 p.m. Tuesday and 6 a.m. Wednesday. The calls included 132 related to electrical hazards and 10 calls for possible structure fires.
As southern Manitoba deals with the damage, Environment Canada is warning there’s a risk of severe weather again Wednesday, with watches expected later in the day.
“This one doesn’t look as bad,” Fulton said. “A lot of the energy in the atmosphere has been used up in this outbreak we had overnight, but we’re kind of looking again at Red River Valley.”
Cleanup also continues in western communities like Swan River, which was hit by a storm early Monday morning, resulting in significant flooding.
Environment Canada said that region was able to escape the brunt of Tuesday night’s system, though Fulton said it may have still seen between 25 and 75 mm.
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