Several communities without power as winter storm rages in southeast Sask.

A fierce winter storm is causing problems in southeast Saskatchewan.

Power was knocked out in several communities, including Redvers, Carlyle, Alida, Caryvale and Estevan. To make matters worse, SaskPower said crews weren’t able to get out to the rural areas to fix the problem.

SaskPower confirmed 20 to 25 customers — possibly serving hundreds of people — were without power Tuesday morning. It couldn’t provide a time as to when power would be restored.

George Martin lives in the village of Storthoaks, around 130 kilometres east of Estevan. He said his power went out just before 1 a.m. Tuesday.

“Nobody around here has got any power and there’s been some people around here who have been out (of power) since 11 o’clock last night,” he told 980 CJME.         

While he is without power, Martin said conditions have improved slightly.

“You can see not too bad, but (the wind) is still blowing probably 80 to 90 kilometres (per hour),” he said. “The roads are actually fairly decent, except for spots where the banks were there from the whole winter. Those parts of the road aren’t very good.”

While SaskPower told crews to stand down in the rural areas, it was able to dispatch crews within Estevan.

— With files from Sarah Mills and Lisa Schick