Winter is about to fall in Manitoba.
Environment Canada has issued a snowfall warning, saying a major winter storm is expected to bring more than 30 centimeters along a line from Flin Flon to Thompson.
For other areas in the alert region, gGeneral snowfall of between 10 and 25 cm is expected, according to the meteorological agency.
Specifically, Wabowden and Pukatawagan are expected to receive the upper end of that range, while Lynn Lake should see between 5 and 10cm.
Winds from the north are likely to reach gusts of 50 or 60 km/h, making visibility difficult, sometimes with snow.
Road closures are almost certain, the warning says, urging people not to travel through affected areas.
Highway 391, from Leaf Rapids to Nelson House, has already been closed due to poor driving conditions, along with Highway 280, from Thompson to Split Lake, and Highway 6, from Thompson to Highway 39.
Those who need to travel should prepair it for rapidly changing and deteriorating conditions. They should also carry an emergency kit and a mobile phone, and make sure others know where they are going and when they plan to arrive, so help can be sent if necessary.
Accumulating heavy snowfall combined with strong winds could also cause damage to trees or other structures before easing later on Monday.
The city of Snow Lake posted a message on Facebook asking residents to conserve water whenever possible.
The generator that powers the water treatment plant has run out of fuel and the refueling truck is on its way, but is experiencing difficulties due to heavy snowfall.
power outages
The weather is also wreaking havoc in Manitoba Hydro, which says there are outages across eastern, northern and western Manitoba, affecting about 11,000 people. customers.
According to spokesman Peter Chura, wind, rain and contact of trees with cables have caused damage to lines, poles and other equipment.
“We have crews moving from outage to outage, but it will take time to find and make repairs over such a wide area. I can’t provide an estimated time for restoration.”
Crews will focus on repairs that will affect the most customers at once, so there could be extended outages throughout the day and night as they move forward, Chura said.
