Winter has fallen in some parts of Manitoba.
Environment Canada has issued a snowfall warning, saying a major winter storm hitting parts of northern Manitoba is expected to bring more than 30 centimeters to some areas when it ends.
The most affected areas will be along a line from Flin Flon to Thompson. For other areas of the alert zone, general snowfall of between 10 and 25 cm is expected, according to the meteorological agency.
Specifically, Wabowden and Pukatawagan are expected to receive more than 20 centimeters, while Lynn Lake should receive between 5 and 10 cm.
“It’s snowing a lot and wet. It’s hard to get anywhere,” said Stuart McDowell, who lives in The Pas and says “there are a lot of downed trees and a lot of downed branches” around town.
Some trees fell in his yard but “fortunately” none hit his house, he said.
“When I get home from work today, I’ll do a little cleaning and then evaluate the front yard and see what I need to do on my next few days off.”
The heavy accumulation of snow, combined with strong winds, could also damage other structures before the storm subsides in the afternoon or early evening, Environment Canada’s warning says.
North winds blow up to 50 or 60 km/h, making visibility difficult, sometimes with snow. Roads will almost certainly be closed and people should not travel, if possible, to affected areas, the warning says.
Those who need to travel should prepare for rapidly changing and deteriorating conditions. They should carry an emergency kit and a mobile phone, and make sure others know where they are going and when they plan to arrive, so they can send help if necessary, the warning says.
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.
“We had a pretty intense storm that moved from Montana, along the Manitoba-Saskatchewan border. [Sunday] as it moved north,” said Environment Canada meteorologist Dan Fulton.
“And it brought some pretty substantial rain to parts of the province, but then transitioned to snow over northern Manitoba as the system took advantage of some colder air. So, there’s pretty heavy snow in northern Manitoba right now.”
Elissa Bogdan, co-owner of Wekusko Falls Lodge, about 10 kilometers northeast of The Pas, said many trees will need to be removed for roads to reopen in that area.
“Once the rain started turning to snow, it got pretty heavy and wet. We lost power late in the afternoon and then with the silence in the houses, it was pretty easy to hear the trees start rustling,” he said.
“We have a tenant in one of our houses up the street who asked me this morning who was shooting guns last night. And I told her it wasn’t gunshots, it was trees falling. She was really surprised at how loud it was.”
The town of Snow Lake, 15 kilometers south of Wekusko, posted a message on Facebook Monday 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 an extensionThey detected outages during the day and night, as they progressed, Chura said.
Bogdan said the Wekusko Falls Lodge has been without power since about 9 p.m. Sunday “and I’m not really sure how long it will last, but we ourselves are preparing for a day or two without power.”
“We’re thankful there are no freezing temperatures, so we can stay warm in our homes with very little power supply. But people will definitely be looking for hot food and hot showers somewhere.”
However, there is a positive side to all things white, Bogdan said.
“We were very dry all summer and we had a terrible fire season and we really needed moisture,” he said.
“Despite all the damage (it would have been better if it had come as rain), we are grateful for the moisture because we really needed it.”
