REGINA — Heavy snow and strong winds knocked out power to thousands of homes in southern Saskatchewan, closed many highways and cut cellphone and Internet service.
Environment Canada issued blizzard and storm warnings Sunday for most of the province and said the extreme winter weather will continue into Monday.
The Trans-Canada Highway from west of Regina to Rush Lake was closed Sunday, as were 20 other highways, including Highway 11 from Regina to Davidson.
Poor road conditions made it impossible for SaskPower crews to get to areas to fix downed power lines or blown transformers, said spokesman James Parker.
“It’s a huge inconvenience for people and we realize that but it’s just very difficult to get to these trouble spots when you have a blizzard.”
Power went out on Saturday about 5:15 p.m. at Angela Plumb’s home in Coronach, a small town about 45 minutes north of the U.S. border.
It was still out Sunday night — more than 24 hours later — but Plumb was cheery, saying she and her loved ones were doing OK.
“We’re snug nice in our home with our wood-burning stove, having sandwiches,” she said.
Her daughter and nine-month-old baby were staying with Plumb because it was only 10 C in her daughter’s home.
“The baby’s getting very frustrated, he doesn’t like it dark when it’s not bed time. We have candles on but it’s not enough for him to play,” Plumb said.
She said others in town have generators, while those without told her they are keeping warm under blankets and cooking outside on barbecues.
“You come to realize how much you actually use power when it’s not there,” Plumb said.
SaskPower says electricity should be restored sometime Monday to Coronach, Rockglen and Big Beaver.
Power was expected to be back on Sunday night in Ogema, Bengough and Viceroy.
SaskTel said the power outages were affecting its cellular, landline and Internet services in some areas of southern Saskatchewan.
On Saturday, the arena in Swift Current went black during a Western Hockey League game between the Regina Pats and the Swift Current Broncos.
Parker said officials were debating whether to call the game when the power came back on after about an hour. The game resumed.
On Sunday, however, the league cancelled a game in Regina between the Pats and the Kootenay Ice due to bad weather.
In Coronach, the call went out to anyone who needed a warm spot to go the Elks Lodge, which has a generator, Parker said.
“Our advice is to bundle up and wait it out...open your taps to keep water running so the pipes don’t freeze.”
The fierce weather also resulted in cancelled and delayed flights at Regina International Airport.
Environment Canada’s Dan Fulton said wind gusts up to 100 kilometres per hour whipped up snow in Cypress Hills, while other spots have seen 80 km/h winds.
Winter storm and blizzard warnings were also in effect for west-central Manitoba and southeastern Manitoba, including Winnipeg.
Environment Canada forecasted 15 to 25 centimetres of snow in the Interlake areas and strong winds gusting up to 70 km-h for Monday.