WINNIPEG – The heat was back on in some south-central Manitoba communities Tuesday morning as a deep freeze continued with wind chill warnings across the region.
Natural gas is flowing to customers in the rural municipalities of Hanover, Ritchot and La Broquerie, including the communities of Ste. Agathe, Niverville, New Bothwell, Kleefeld, Otterburne and Marchand, pipeline owner TransCanada Corp. said in a news release Tuesday.
All remaining customers in the RM of Hanover, including Grunthal, should have their gas service restored by midday, the rural municipality of Hanover said in its own news release.
Manitoba Hydro service personnel are going door-to-door to confirm gas service has been restored and relight gas appliances.
Manitoba Hydro worker Steven Hogue drove from Dauphin, Man., to help bring heat back in Niverville. He started going from home to home at 6 a.m.
“People are so thankful,” he said. “I’ve had offers of cookies and food, but I’m too busy to stop.”
Hydro workers could knock on their door at any time, day or night, and residents are discouraged from relighting gas appliances before a Hydro inspection, the RM of Hanover news release said. If no one is home, workers will try to confirm from the exterior that gas service has been restored and leave a card with instructions to call Manitoba Hydro, the release said
Before they went to bed Monday, some residents of Niverville who were still without power posted signs on their doors saying “Please wake us if you’re Hydro.”
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The rural municipality of De Salaberry, including St. Malo, St-Pierre-Jolys, Grunthal and Dufrost, should have natural gas service restored by noon, TransCanada said.
Hanover and Red River Valley school districts cancelled classes at some schools for a second day.
Classes at Niverville Collegiate, Niverville Elementary, Bothwell School, Kleefeld School, South Oaks School, Green Valley School, École Heritage Immersion, Institut Collegial de St. Pierre and École St. Malo were cancelled on Tuesday.
Manitoba Hydro continued on Tuesday to warn that it could take at least two full days for service to be restored to some customers.
The supply of natural gas, the predominant heating fuel in southern Manitoba, was cut off when a TransCanada pipeline exploded near Otterburne, Man., 45 kilometres south of Winnipeg, at about 1 a.m. Saturday.
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There were 4,000 Manitoba Hydro customers affected, which means thousands of people were without heat during a prolonged period of weather warnings of wind chill values of -40 or colder.
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— With files from Tamara Forlanski in Niverville, Man.
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