Wednesday night’s thunderstorm did a number on the power infrastructure in Saskatoon and surrounding area, leading to subsequent widespread outages.

The Saskatoon Fire Department says it responded to 34 incidents related to the thunderstorm within 90 minutes last night, as well as several external calls to Warman, Martensville, Osler and Dalmeny.

Firefighters also responded to multiple small fires, caused by downed lines, as well as several electrical hazards, such as power lines down and arcing. Saskatoon Light and Power and SaskPower are currently responding to a massive outage that encompasses Riversdale, King George, Casewell Hill, North City Park, the entire west and south sides of Saskatoon outside of Circle Drive, alongside Clavet, Allan, Blucher, Vonda, and Aberdeen.

Social media users in Saskatoon reported extremely high winds, broken tree branches, and pounding thunder like they’ve never experienced before. Residents are now being encouraged to use caution during the morning commute, especially at intersections where traffic signals may be without power.

Saskatoon Light & Power Director Trevor Bell explained that residents patience is appreciated and crews are working as fast as they can.

“At this point a lot of the power has been restored, we had about a third of our customers affected yesterday. I don’t have exact numbers for you today, just haven’t had a chance to pull them together, but about a third were affected last night. At this point I would say that it’s maybe 10 per cent of our customers who are still affected.”

In addition, Environment Canada has issued a special weather statement regarding a long duration heat event that is expected over much of southern Saskatchewan and southern Manitoba – including Saskatoon, Prince Albert, the Battlefords, Humboldt, Watrous, Rosthern and Rosetown – beginning Friday afternoon and lasting well into next week. Temperatures will approach the 30-degree mark on Friday and climb to the mid-thirties by the end of the weekend. Conditions will be particularly muggy this weekend, especially in regions along and south of the Trans-Canada Highway, with humidex values approaching 45 on Sunday. Temperature and humidex values will ease slightly early next week, but daytime highs will remain in the high 20s to low 30s range for most of the week. Heat warnings will be issued as the event draws near.

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