Thousands of Winnipeg residents were left without power after a severe storm tore through the city Sunday night, downing power lines, snapping utility poles and even lifting a parked car onto a lawn. Manitoba Hydro said about 4,000 customers were still without power Monday morning, most of them in River Heights, with several hundred more in Westwood that the utility believes were caused by a lightning strike. “This was a very severe storm, not widespread, but very localized, and caused tremendous damage to trees and power lines and hydro poles in the River Heights area,” said Manitoba Hydro spokesperson Peter Chura. He said crews have counted about a dozen poles down or partially down in the area near Borebank Street and Mathers Avenue. “It’s difficult to give any kind of definitive restoration time, but in the River Heights area, where we’re looking at this damage and just starting to sort through it, we’re pretty sure it’s going to be a multi-day outage,” Chura said. ‘A car beside me’ Among the storm’s damage was Darryl Gervais’ car, which he had planned to give to his son, lifted by the wind and carried from Lindsay Street onto the nearby grass. Gervais, who doesn’t live in the neighbourhood, said he first learned what happened from a photo sent by his son’s friend. “It seemed incredulous,” he said. “My car having been rolled by the wind from the curb to a house, and the power lines down — quite something like in a movie.” He said he has filed a claim online with Manitoba Public Insurance and arranged for it to be towed Monday morning to an MPI compound. Jessie McDougall, who lives nearby, said he was in the shower when the storm struck. “I heard a big bang and came out all wet, and came out to this ... a car beside me. It was crazy,” McDougall said. McDougall said neighbours immediately began checking on one another. His roof, now missing numerous shingles, and his fence were both damaged in the storm. Chris Yaron, who lives on nearby Campbell Street, said he and his family had their windows open to listen to the storm Sunday evening when conditions suddenly worsened. “All of a sudden, massive, massive wind out of nowhere. It was already raining, but I went to the front window to see what was going on, and I could see the electrical explosions reflecting off my neighbour’s windows,” Yaron said. “It was coming from Mathers (Avenue), ... and then the power went out,” he said, standing in his back lane as neighbours inspected the damage nearby. Yaron said a stretch of about 10 houses near his home appeared to bear the brunt of the storm, which he called a “hot zone,” with shingles torn off roofs and trees toppled onto power lines. His own property suffered minor damage. “One little shingle off my garage,” he said. Yaron said a large evergreen tree fell onto the vehicle of a neighbour who had moved in only about a month earlier. “He was actually outside taking groceries from his car when this happened, and he decided not to go back out there for the groceries, and then the evergreen tipped over the back of his car,” Yaron said, adding the man was not hurt. He said residents spent the morning checking on one another. “That’s what’s nice about these things, is that we all come around and visit with each other and help each other out when the storm’s happening,” he said. “A lot more people coming together because of the storm.” Preliminary figures from Environment and Climate Change Canada show wind gusts topped 80 km/h at several stations, including 87 km/h at Elie and 85 km/h at Portage Southport. Gusts reached 83 km/h at the Winnipeg airport. The weather agency said more than 62 mm of rain fell at The Forks in the 24 hours ending at 8 a.m., with stations near High Bluff recording just over 104 mm. Chura said Manitoba Hydro is watching the forecast closely, with more thunderstorms possible Monday evening that could complicate repairs. He said if anyone encounters downed lines to stay away at least 10 metres and call 911. With files from CTV’s Alex Karpa
