It’s still lights out in Beechy two days after blizzard

Winds gusting at more 100 kilometres per hour knocked out the power in Beechy on Wednesday and, as of early Friday afternoon, residents had been without for almost two full days.

The power went out around 3 p.m. two days ago and Mayor Gloria Prentice said many residents are getting by with help from generators.

Town officials have even set one up in the community hall and volunteers have been serving seniors warm meals.

“They took suppers to the seniors (Thursday) night; they took them soup and sandwiches. (Friday) morning they had coffee and scrambled eggs available at the hall for people that don’t have power and don’t have any way to cook,” she said.

Prentice said town officials have been in contact with the Red Cross for cots if they are still without power Friday night. They might have people sleep in the community hall.

Prentice said more and more residents are getting their own power sources because it’s becoming a regular occurrence.

“At least once or twice every winter we have a significant power outage,” she said

Almost one year ago to the day, Jan. 19, 2020, Beechy didn’t have power for more than 15 hours and it was -20 C.

“I am hoping that SaskPower can get us some answers and maybe we can get some work done that this isn’t going to continue to happen all the time,” Prentice said.

At 10:44 a.m. Friday, SaskPower tweeted that crews were still working on the power outage affecting Beechy and area residents.

Beechy is located 185 kilometres southwest of Saskatoon.