Storm brings power outage to 10K residences
By Mo Cranker on April 28, 2019.
Medicine Hat News Around 10,000 Hat residences were without power Saturday night and part of Sunday morning after a winter storm swept through the city.High winds and snowfall caused a number of trees to collapse and take power lines down with them, says superintendent of stations and equipment Tyler Masson.
“We ended up having multiple outages overnight caused by the wind, snow and the rain,” he said. “In total we’re looking at around 10,000 total customers impacted by this.
“We had crews working from about 11:30 p.m. until around 9 a.m. Sunday morning.”
Masson says there was six different outages around the city, with multiple areas impacted by the storm.
“When the snow hits, it makes the trees a lot heavier and if they aren’t strong enough they can fall down,” he said. “It wasn’t just one area – it was all over the city.”
As of Sunday afternoon Masson says all power was restored to Hatters who had reported issues.
“Every year or so we end up seeing something like this – it just depends on mother nature,” he said. “We’ve got power back and assuming the strong winds are done we should be in the clear.”
Safe driving
With winter weather comes icy road conditions, but Medicine Hat Police Service S/Sgt. Darren Lole says Hatters were driving well and staying safe.
“It’s been really good on our end,” he said. “People have been diligent and this being a Sunday it’s usually a quiet traffic day. “People seem to be paying attention to the weather and driving safely.” 3
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