Downed power line in Pimicikamak repaired, electricity being restored

Manitoba Hydro said Thursday it is restoring power to residents of a northern First Nation after a downed power line forced residents out.

Completion of the challenging repairs came a day after Pimicikamak Cree Nation Chief David Monias had asked Prime Minister Mark Carney to deploy the Canadian Armed Forces to assist with the power outage crisis in Cross Lake.

The community has been without power since late Sunday when a line cross the Nelson River snapped.

In a press release Thursday afternoon, Manitoba Hydro said that its crews had completed repairs to the power line and was on track to restore power to Cross Lake Thursday evening.

“This afternoon the utility will be gradually re-energizing customers throughout the community,” the statement read. “This must be done in stages to avoid overloading the system potentially damaging equipment.”

In a letter dated Dec. 31, Monias told Carney that the nation was “experiencing a rapidly escalating public health and safety crisis” as hundreds of homes remained without power or heat.

“Elders, infants, children and medically vulnerable citizens are at immediate risk,” Monias wrote in the letter released Thursday.

He said that evacuations were underway, and the hotels were at capacity in the area.

“Despite the involvement of multiple agencies, including Indigenous Services Canada and the Canadian Red Cross, the scale and severity of this crisis far exceed local and regional capacity,” Monias wrote requesting immediate military assistance.

Pimicikamak Cree Nation declared a state of emergency on Monday following the widespread outage. The community – about 1,300 customers – has been without power since late Sunday night when a supply line crossing the Nelson River went down.

According to Monias, once power is restored, there are flooding risks due to pipe bursts and more families might be displaced.

Earlier in the week, Manitoba Hydro had said it would restore power by Wednesday 6 p.m. and later revised its estimate to Thursday 6 p.m.

“The broken line was 300 meters long and ran between two islands in the Nelson River, where the ice is not thick enough to support vehicles,” the statement said.

The power agency since Sunday night, it had provided a large generator to restore power to a water treatment plant and eight others for heaters in the community.

— With files from The Canadian Press