Multiple power outages in Calgary as winter storm rolls through

CALGARY – The winter storm that hit Calgary last night and this morning disrupted the power service to about 43,000 of Enmax’s residential customers since midnight, a company spokeswoman said.

Doris Kaufmann of Enmax Corp. said outages have been reported throughout the city, caused by lines downed by high winds and a few pole fires.

"There isn’t one area of the city that hasn’t been affected," Kaufmann said, although she noted the communities of Citadel, Hidden Valley and Evanston suffered multiple outages lasting up to three hours.

While half of the affected customers had power restored within three minutes, those in the three north Calgary communities share their power feeders with larger rural zones, meaning crews have to inspect a larger area to find downed lines, leading to the delays in power restoration.

Kaufmann said officials expect more issues to arise, as weather continues to cause problems with power networks. Crews have cancelled all scheduled work to focus on weather-related outages, she said.

"Ironically, (crews) are having some difficulty getting to areas where there are problems because of the snow," Kaufmann added.

Smaller cities and towns around Calgary did not fare any better, according to Fortis Alberta.

The power provider said 30,000 customers in southern and central Alberta are without power after the storm Thursday morning, in places like Airdrie, Black Diamond, Bowden, Cradston, Chestermere, Cochrane, Irricana, Olds, Strathmore, Sundre, Turner Valley and Lethbridge.

As is the case with Enmax in Calgary, Fortis says crews are having problems reaching damaged lines and poles because of the snow on the roads.

The company is asking its customers to report any outages and to stay away from downed lines.