Power outages Early Sunday morning struck West Kildonan, East Kildonan, Garden City and River Heights. Hydro poles on Aberdeen caught fire and become unrepairable. This disrupted feeder lines that provided an abundant energy source for the surrounding areas.

Approximately 8,000 Manitoba Hydro customers were without power from approximately 12am-1245pm March 31st due to the abrupt power outages. These fires are caused due to build up of sand and excessive moisture from melting snow.

Aberdeen was not the only fire that occurred, hydro poles experienced the same shortage on Berry St. that left another 400 customers without service.

Many Winnipeg families had to postpone their Easter dinners as a result of the power outage.

After a 12 hour disruption of service, families thought service would be fully restored, but yet again another outage occurred Monday morning from 12am-3am. The power outages affected from Inkster Boulevard to Leila Avenue between McPhillips Street and the Red River.

The electrical grid here in Winnipeg is very large, at during this season it can be difficult for crews to find problematic lines, which is like finding a needle in a haystack. Power outages are common place, but Hydro crews work diligently and responded quickly to provide a constant flow of energy, something we take for granted and only notice when something goes wrong.

In the alarms business, our ‘grids’ or security networks are smaller and much more easily contained. Our service relies on battery backup so power outages are uncommon. We have the luxury of implementing specific sensors that give us the ability to track and monitor problems with temperature and water levels. These environmental sensors play a big roll in protecting places such as homes, your office, place of leisure, and other facilities.

Although many homes were affected by these power outages, we wish that everyone had a joyous time throughout the day with friends and family.