Hydro crews are dealing with dozens of power outages and people are picking up debris after severe winds on Thursday created havoc across southern Manitoba and reduced visibility in blowing dust.
There are downed power lines and broken trees in the Parkland and Westman regions, said Manitoba Hydro, with the largest area of outages in the southwest corner.
Minto School, south of Brandon, is closed on Friday because of an outage.
In a social media post, Hydro said crews were working to get the power restored but paused at 10 p.m. because it was no longer safe. They were set to head back out Friday morning.
In Brandon, the wind knocked down the steel frame for the Esso station sign on the Trans-Canada Highway at 18th Street and flipped the KFC sign upside down.
In Winnipeg, there were a number of smaller power outages dotted throughout the city on Friday. Manitoba Hydro doesn’t known when power will be back on.
The following is a list of some the strongest wind gusts, as reported by Environment Canada and Manitoba Agriculture weather stations:
The wind warning is over for Winnipeg as of Friday morning but remains over a swath of southwestern Manitoba.
Dust storm wallops southern Manitoba
Environment Canada says winds should diminish late Friday afternoon.
Damage to roofs, fences, branches or soft shelters is possible and people should secure loose objects, the weather agency said.
High-sided vehicles could also be pushed around by the wind.
Meanwhile, the northern part of the province is seeing a return of winter.
A freezing rain warning is in place for the Split Lake and York Landing region, while further north, heavy snow is expected in a winter storm warning.
About 10 to 15 centimetres is likely before the snowfall ends Friday morning.
