Beaver, trees, storms cause weekend power outages in Manitoba

Manitoba Hydro crews have been busy through the weekend dealing with a number of power outages across the province, including one caused by none other than one of Canada's official symbols.

Crews were still working to restore power to parts of Westman Sunday morning that were hit by severe thunderstorms on Saturday.

• Thunderstorms bring golf ball-sized hail, strong winds to southwest Manitoba

The Pelican Lake and Ninette areas were hardest hit, according to Manitoba Hydro spokesperson Bruce Owen.

Owen didn't have an exact number of customers affected, but said as of Sunday morning, about 40 lines were still down. A number of pole and transformers also needed to be replaced, he said.

"We've got staff from the Killarney, Virden, Brandon areas on the scene now trying to restore power to those affected," he said. "It's widespread."

Winds in the area were clocked in the 90 km/h hour range, according to Environment Canada.

Owen said crews hope to have power restored as quickly as possible, hopefully before the end of the day, he said.

Beaver causes outage in Interlake 

Meanwhile, a busy beaver was to blame for a power outage in Manitoba's Interlake early Sunday.

Reports of a power outage came in at about 12 a.m. from the Matheson Island, Pine Dock & Beaver Creek areas around Lake Winnipeg, Owen said.

"Beavers being beavers, beavers do what beavers do and they chew through trees and the odd time a tree comes down and it takes out a line, he said.

About 360 customers were affected by the outage. Power was restored by 4 a.m.

"We have obviously wildlife caused outages," he said. "It just happens."

Meanwhile, power was knocked out in the Hecla and Grindstone Provincial Park area late Saturday afternoon. Owen said that outage was also caused by a tree on a line. Power was restored Saturday evening.