Still 1,600 SaskPower customers in Moose Jaw area without electricity

By Jay D Haughton

As we head into Day 2 following a crazy fall snowstorm, SaskPower is continuing to restore electricity to roughly 1,600 customers in sections of Moose Jaw and a number of rural communities.

Starting Saturday night and through Monday morning, 25 to 40 centimetres of heavy wet snow fell, causing a lot of disruptions to customers due to fallen trees on powerlines.

“The big thing was getting in there to survey the damage and start the repairs because the road conditions were really poor,” SaskPower spokesperson Joel Cherry said. “It’s difficult even at this time of the year to clear snow. There are a lot of different factors that came into effect.

“When we get out there to do the repairs the ground is not frozen, so it’s sloppy as the snow is melting. There are a lot of different factors to contend with when responding to these outages.”

As of Tuesday morning, some northeast and northwest sections of Moose Jaw were still without power and rural communities as far northwest as Riverhurst and as far south as Old Wives were still powerless.

Some good news came Tuesday to the roughly 1,600 customers still left without power, as SaskPower is hopeful that most of the affected customers will regain power by the end of the day.

Additionally, SaskPower is expected to have the power on in the communities northwest of Tuxford by 6 p.m. Tuesday. Those areas have been without power for more than 48 hours.

Though it is expected the power will be restored to most residences by the end of the day, Cherry says there could be delays, especially in more isolated communities.

Those in Buffalo Pound Provincial Park may have to wait a little longer, as it is still difficult to get into that area due to fallen trees and snow-covered roads.

At the height of the snowstorm on Sunday, SaskPower estimates that about 12,000 customers were without power.

SaskTel said that as of 2 p.m., all of its services had been restored in and around the communities of Briercrest, Buffalo Pound Lake, Caronport, Drinkwater, Marquis and Tuxford.

Those services were affected by the power outage.