Saskatoon city crews clean up after Wednesday night’s storm

Saskatoon city crews are out clearing roads and cleaning up after Wednesday’s fierce wind and snowstorm.

According to Saskatoon Light and Power director Trevor Bell, three neighbourhoods experienced power outages beginning around 8 p.m.

“The first outage affected the Greystone Heights area. Wind and moisture caused mechanical failure in that area and so we had to dispatch crews to respond and make the necessary repair. The second outage affecting the Riversdale and King George neighbourhoods was the result of trees in a back alley bending in the wind and touching overhead power lines,” he said.

A third outage in the Nutana area was caused by a tree falling onto power lines. Power was restored to the neighborhoods by 4:30 Thursday morning.

Three street light poles were also damaged, including a traffic signal at First Avenue and 22nd Street.

According to SaskPower, 10 additional neighbourhoods in the city also experienced power outages at some point during the storm, including Aspen Ridge, Lawson Heights, North Industrial, Park Ridge, Confederation Park, Pacific Heights, Evergreen, Kensington and University Heights.

City of Saskatoon roadways director Goran Saric says 18 trucks, including sand and salt trucks, and graders worked throughout the night to remove drifting snow and ice.

“Today, city crews will continue with the same effort,” he said. “We will continue spreading sand and salt on our busy streets. We’ll have 20 sanders out there focusing on high-traffic streets, bridge decks, intersections and addressing intersections that experience drifting. We’ll also have eight high-speed plows working in outlying areas where drifting is still a concern.”

There will also be plows out clearing sidewalks.

According to emergency management director Pamela Goulden-McLeod, Saskatoon Transit service will run as normal and garbage collection will take place as usual.