In the eye of the storm: Power still out for some in southwest Sask.

It’s going to be another night without power for about 2,000 SaskPower customers in southwestern Saskatchewan.

In an email late Wednesday afternoon, the Crown corporation provided an update on its efforts to restore power in the Maple Creek area after Tuesday’s blast of winter.

After initially saying around 800 customers wouldn’t get their power restored Wednesday, SaskPower said that number was increasing to around 2,000. And between 700 and 800 customers won’t get their service restored until Friday.

“Repairs to the lines feeding areas north and east of Maple Creek will not be completed tonight, meaning Hatton, Golden Prairie and Piapot will likely stay off well into tomorrow …,” the statement said.

“Crews have not been able to begin repair work south of Maple Creek. Cypress Hills, Nekaneet and surrounding rurals will be off into Friday.”

As well, after saying power in Maple Creek would be back on by 6 p.m. Wednesday, SaskPower said “new issues” — including wet, muddy conditions that made for difficult working conditions — meant the town wouldn’t get power until 10 p.m.

Around noon Wednesday, SaskPower spokesperson Joel Cherry described the impact the storm had had on the power grid.

“South of Maple Creek is where the situation is worse,” Cherry said. “We are not able to access Cypress Hills Provincial Park right now because the road conditions are impassable. We have 70 poles down in that area.”

The storm broke power poles and knocked down lines, leaving thousands in the region without electricity.

On Tuesday afternoon, SaskPower said 6,500 customers didn’t have power. By noon Wednesday, that number was down to 3,472, most of whom were in the Maple Creek area.

Cherry said crews had to replace 15 poles around the town before power could be restored. North of Maple Creek, crews had to repair 43 broken crossarms and replace three poles.

Meanwhile, SaskTel also is having issues because of the storm and the power outage.

It said in a release some communities don’t have Internet, cell or landline service while others may lose service as backup battery power decreases.

SaskTel said Burstall, Cypress Hills, East Fairwell, Fort Walsh, Fox Valley, Golden Prairie and Richmound all were without phone service.

— With files from 650 CKOM’s Brent Bosker