By battlefordsNOW Staff

UPDATE: SaskPower working to restore service to Emma and Christopher Lakes after storm

Jul 8, 2018 | 10:30 AM

After a major storm in the Lakeland region caused widespread damage Friday night and Saturday morning, SaskPower crews are working to restore service to the area.

The storm caused widespread damage to power infrastructure as high winds brought down power poles and lines along with hundreds of trees. Campers in the Great Blue Heron and Battlefords Provincial Parks had a rough night, as one local fire department reported several campers were trapped inside trailers by fallen trees. One camper from Saskatoon, who spent the night at the Murray Point campground, told paNOW his family was trapped for several hours before emergency crews arrived to help.

No serious injuries were reported after the storm, which Lakeland Fire Chief Chris McShannock said was “quite amazing.”

SaskPower crews responded quickly after the weather caused large outages across the region. Power was restored to Waskesiu, Candle Lake, Lower Fishing Lake, Little Bear, East Trout Lake, Whelan Bay, and the surrounding areas Saturday afternoon, but a lack of daylight meant crews had to wait until morning to keep working on the outages affecting the areas around Emma Lake and Christopher Lake.

At 8 a.m. SaskPower reported their crews were back to work and have continued to assess and repair the “significant damage in the area.” Numerous power lines are down, SaskPower reported, and they were unable to estimate how long the repair work may take. Power crews are also working to repair outages around Debden, Victoire, Big River First Nation, Ahtahkakoop, and Morin Lake.

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SaskPower Spokesperson Jordan Jackle said there are likely between 300 and 500 customers still powerless in the area, though the full extent of the damage is not yet known.

“We’re working to restore the main lines leading into the area,” Jackle said. “Once we get those restored we’ll get a better sense of what customers that are feeding off of secondary lines are out.”

Jackle said it’s important to stay back at least 10 metres from any damaged or potentially-damaged power infrastructure, and asked residents to report any damage directly to SaskPower. Updates will be posted to SaskPower’s Twitter account as the situation progresses, he added, and there is also an outage map available online.

Lakeland Reeve Cheryl Bauer Hyde said all of the roads in the region are passable, though not all of the fallen trees have been removed. Staff from Lakeland Public Works will begin their large-scale cleanup efforts Monday, she said, and there are many chainsaws running as cabin-owners clear debris from their property.

“I expect there’ll be quite a few insurance claims,” she said, “but other than the power, we’re in pretty good shape.”

Staff at Great Blue Heron Provincial Park said the campsites are expected to reopen to the public by Thursday.

Editor’s Note: This story was updated at 11:50 a.m. on Sunday, July 8, 2018 to add the latest numbers and comments from Jackle. It was updated again at 1:10 p.m. on Monday, July 9 to add comment from park staff.

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