Weekend storms knock out power, disrupt SaskTel service

Weekend storms that swept across much of Saskatchewan left tens of thousands of people without electricity and disrupted wireless service across parts of the province.

Officials from SaskPower and SaskTel said prolonged power outages, not damage to telecommunications equipment, were behind most of the communication issues.

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At the height of the outages late Saturday and into Sunday morning, SaskPower said thousands of customers lost electricity across a large stretch of north-central and northeastern Saskatchewan.

“Our largest outage occurred late Saturday night and lasted until about six o’clock the next morning,” SaskPower spokesperson Joel Cherry said.

“That affected an area stretching all the way from Shellbrook to Nipawin and beyond. So Prince Albert, Melfort, Spiritwood, Nipawin, even La Ronge. About 50,000 customers were off in total.”

In an update on Monday, Cherry said roughly 2,000 customers in the Nipawin area were still without electricity, noting that the number was changing as crews continued restoration efforts.

The outages also affected SaskTel’s wireless network.

At the time of the interview, SaskTel said wireless service was unavailable in and around Marean Lake, Porcupine Plain, Greenwater, Weekes, Bertwell, Carrot River and Petaigan due to prolonged power outages, which had cut commercial power to wireless sites.

Greg Jacobs, a spokesperson for SaskTel, said the company’s own infrastructure was largely spared from storm damage.

“We haven’t experienced any significant damage as a result of the storms that have been impacting many parts of the province this year,” Jacobs said.

Instead, he said the loss of commercial power caused the outage.

“Generally speaking, when we do see outages after a storm, whether it be a summer storm or a winter storm, it’s due to the power infrastructure that feeds our sites, which is the case today,” Jacobs explained.

He said wireless service would return once electricity was restored.

Cherry said the widespread outages were largely caused by damage to SaskPower’s transmission system during the severe weather.

“In some cases, high winds, lightning, for example, striking transmission lines,” he said.

“When transmission lines are affected, it does tend to affect a larger area because transmission lines are the higher-voltage lines that carry power over long distances from power generation facilities to substations where the voltage is stepped down.”

The storms also complicated restoration efforts.

“In some cases, we had conditions that were too dangerous to complete the repairs, whether because of frequent lightning or high winds,” Cherry said.

He said some crews were forced to suspend repairs overnight before returning after conditions improved.

“I know in the Nipawin area our crews had to stop for the night and were back out there at 8 a.m. today.”

Cherry said weather-related outages are nothing new for SaskPower, with extreme weather, including blizzards in the winter and thunderstorms in the summer, responsible for more than a quarter of all outages in the province each year.

SaskPower reminded customers to stay at least 10 metres away from any downed power lines or damaged electrical equipment, and to report damaged infrastructure as soon as possible. Cherry said customers should also contact SaskPower if the utility’s outage map shows power has been restored, but they remain without electricity, as localized damage may still need to be repaired.

SaskTel encouraged customers in affected communities to use traditional landlines if emergency assistance is needed while wireless service is unavailable.

Both Crown corporations said they would continue updating customers as restoration work progressed following one of the wildest weekends of weather so far this summer.