Residents of Pimicikamak Cree Nation are feeling relieved and thankful as power is restored after days without electricity in extreme cold.
Manitoba Hydro repaired a broken power line that caused the outage and began turning electricity back on in stages Thursday, nearly four days after homes lost heat during frigid winter weather. The outage led Chief David Monias to declare a state of emergency.
Brenda Monias, who stayed in the community during the outage, said she was overjoyed when the lights came back on. She said the return of heat was especially important for her grandchildren.
Manitoba Hydro says power is being restored gradually to avoid damaging equipment, with full restoration expected by Thursday evening.
The outage began Sunday night when a power line crossing the Nelson River snapped in the northern Manitoba First Nation, about 530 kilometres north of Winnipeg. Temperatures dropped to around –30 C with wind chill, forcing many residents to leave.
About 1,400 people temporarily left the community of roughly 7,000 to stay in hotels or with family. The Canadian Red Cross provided generators and heaters to help residents cope with the cold.
Community leaders are now concerned about damage caused by the prolonged outage. Chief Monias says burst pipes, water pump issues, and sewage backups have already been reported, and more repairs may be needed as residents assess damage in their homes.
